A new approach to the diagnosis of deficits in processing faces: Potential application in autism research

Abstract

Deficits in social communication are one of the behavioral signatures of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Because faces are arguably the most important social stimuli that we encounter in everyday life, investigating the ability of individuals with ASD to process faces is thought to be important for understanding the nature of ASD. However, although a considerable body of evidence suggests that ASD individuals show specific impairments in face processing, a significant number of studies argue otherwise. Through a literature review, we found that this controversy is largely attributable to the different face tests used across different studies. Therefore, a more reliable and valid face test is needed. To this end, we performed a meta-analysis on data gleaned from a variety of face tests conducted on individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP) who suffer a selective deficit in face processing. Based on this meta-analysis, we selected an old/new face recognition test that relies on face memory as a standard diagnostic test for measuring specific face processing deficits. This test not only reliably reflects DP individuals' subjective experiences with faces in their daily lives, but also effectively differentiates deficits in face processing from deficits caused by other general problems. In addition, DP individuals' performance in this test predicts their performance in a variety of face tests that examine specific components of face processing (e.g., holistic processing of faces). Finally, this test can be easily administrated and is not overly sensitive to prior knowledge. In summary, this test can be used to evaluate face-processing ability, and it helped to resolve the controversy whether individuals with ASD exhibit face-processing deficits. autism spectrum disorder, developmental prosopagnosia, face recognition, face discrimination, old/new face recognition test Citation:Wang RS, Liu L, Liu J. A new approach to the diagnosis of deficits in processing faces: Potential application in autism research.

Separate and Shared Neural Basis of Face Memory and Face Perception in Developmental Prosopagnosia

“…This interview process resulted in 180 DP candidates (diagnosis rate: ∼73%). In stage 3: diagnostic behavioral test, an objective testold/new face memory test (Duchaine and Nakayama, 2004;Wang et al, 2012Wang et al, , 2015 -was conducted to 105 of the 180 potential DPs willing to participate in behavioral tests and resulted in 64 DP participants whose performance was 1 SD below an independent norm of 182 unscreened college students (diagnosis rate: ∼61%). Finally, in stage 4: validation, a paper-based famous-face test was used to confirm whether the 64 DP participants had impairment in face recognition in daily life.…”

The Italian Famous Face Test (IT-FFT): Normative data from neurotypical individuals and an assessment of its sensitivity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

“…Consequently, mental representations of familiar faces are comprehensive, drawing from a variety of experiences to form a stable impression of a particular individual (as in the case of famous faces), which differs from unfamiliar ones, as mentioned above 11,26 . Despite this, contrary to face memory, famous face recognition in ASDs has not been thoroughly investigated 27 . Some theories suggest that also metacognitive abilities can affect cognitive performance 28 ; that is, if people believe to have poor memory skills, they tend to poorly perform on actual memory tasks.…”

Impaired Face Perception in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Insights on Diagnosis and Treatment

“…Observers are then instructed to indicate whether the face stimulus is novel or not. This task has been shown to be very reliable and sensitive in identifying individuals with selective impairments in face processing and thus might be a promising test in ASD diagnosis [10].…”