Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults
Abstract Background It is unclear whether atypical patterns of facial expression production metrics in autism reflect the dynamic and nuanced nature of facial expressions across people or a true diagnostic difference. Furthermore, the heterogeneity observed across autism symptomatology suggests a ne...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-022-09451-z |
| _version_ | 1811315141159944192 |
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| author | Jennifer Quinde-Zlibut Anabil Munshi Gautam Biswas Carissa J. Cascio |
| author_facet | Jennifer Quinde-Zlibut Anabil Munshi Gautam Biswas Carissa J. Cascio |
| author_sort | Jennifer Quinde-Zlibut |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background It is unclear whether atypical patterns of facial expression production metrics in autism reflect the dynamic and nuanced nature of facial expressions across people or a true diagnostic difference. Furthermore, the heterogeneity observed across autism symptomatology suggests a need for more adaptive and personalized social skills programs. Towards this goal, it would be useful to have a more concrete and empirical understanding of the different expressiveness profiles within the autistic population and how they differ from neurotypicals. Methods We used automated facial coding and an unsupervised clustering approach to limit inter-individual variability in facial expression production that may have otherwise obscured group differences in previous studies, allowing an “apples-to-apples” comparison between autistic and neurotypical adults. Specifically, we applied k-means clustering to identify subtypes of facial expressiveness in an autism group (N = 27) and a neurotypical control group (N = 57) separately. The two most stable clusters from these analyses were then further characterized and compared based on their expressiveness and emotive congruence to emotionally charged stimuli. Results Our main finding was that a subset of autistic adults in our sample show heightened spontaneous facial expressions irrespective of image valence. We did not find evidence for greater incongruous (i.e., inappropriate) facial expressions in autism. Finally, we found a negative trend between expressiveness and emotion recognition within the autism group. Conclusion The results from our previous study on self-reported empathy and current expressivity findings point to a higher degree of facial expressions recruited for emotional resonance in autism that may not always be adaptive (e.g., experiencing similar emotional resonance regardless of valence). These findings also build on previous work indicating that facial expression intensity is not diminished in autism and suggest the need for intervention programs to focus on emotion recognition and social skills in the context of both negative and positive emotions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T11:26:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-17e81bcfe3da4bba9b0da520ead3ffc5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1866-1947 1866-1955 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T11:26:05Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders |
| spelling | doaj.art-17e81bcfe3da4bba9b0da520ead3ffc52022-12-22T02:48:42ZengBMCJournal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders1866-19471866-19552022-08-0114111310.1186/s11689-022-09451-zIdentifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adultsJennifer Quinde-Zlibut0Anabil Munshi1Gautam Biswas2Carissa J. Cascio3Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt UniversityInstitute for Software Integrated Systems, Vanderbilt UniversityInstitute for Software Integrated Systems, Vanderbilt UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical CenterAbstract Background It is unclear whether atypical patterns of facial expression production metrics in autism reflect the dynamic and nuanced nature of facial expressions across people or a true diagnostic difference. Furthermore, the heterogeneity observed across autism symptomatology suggests a need for more adaptive and personalized social skills programs. Towards this goal, it would be useful to have a more concrete and empirical understanding of the different expressiveness profiles within the autistic population and how they differ from neurotypicals. Methods We used automated facial coding and an unsupervised clustering approach to limit inter-individual variability in facial expression production that may have otherwise obscured group differences in previous studies, allowing an “apples-to-apples” comparison between autistic and neurotypical adults. Specifically, we applied k-means clustering to identify subtypes of facial expressiveness in an autism group (N = 27) and a neurotypical control group (N = 57) separately. The two most stable clusters from these analyses were then further characterized and compared based on their expressiveness and emotive congruence to emotionally charged stimuli. Results Our main finding was that a subset of autistic adults in our sample show heightened spontaneous facial expressions irrespective of image valence. We did not find evidence for greater incongruous (i.e., inappropriate) facial expressions in autism. Finally, we found a negative trend between expressiveness and emotion recognition within the autism group. Conclusion The results from our previous study on self-reported empathy and current expressivity findings point to a higher degree of facial expressions recruited for emotional resonance in autism that may not always be adaptive (e.g., experiencing similar emotional resonance regardless of valence). These findings also build on previous work indicating that facial expression intensity is not diminished in autism and suggest the need for intervention programs to focus on emotion recognition and social skills in the context of both negative and positive emotions.https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-022-09451-zAutism spectrum disorderFacial expression productionEmpathyNonverbal communication |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer Quinde-Zlibut Anabil Munshi Gautam Biswas Carissa J. Cascio Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Autism spectrum disorder Facial expression production Empathy Nonverbal communication |
| title | Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults |
| title_full | Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults |
| title_fullStr | Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults |
| title_short | Identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults |
| title_sort | identifying and describing subtypes of spontaneous empathic facial expression production in autistic adults |
| topic | Autism spectrum disorder Facial expression production Empathy Nonverbal communication |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-022-09451-z |
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