A preliminary investigation into the relationship between empathy, autistic like traits and emotion recognition

Abstract

Kris (2019) A preliminary investigation into the relationship between empathy, autistic like traits and emotion recognition. Personality and Individual Differences, 137. pp. 12-16.

An exploration of the impact of contextual information on the emotion recognition ability of autistic adults

“…The stimuli in the study were comparable to those in interventions and assessments of emotion recognition, used in clinical and educational settings (e.g., Murray et al, 2018). Hypotheses H1 and H4, which states that non-autistic people and people with lower autistic traits will more accurately recognise emotions than autistic people and people with higher autistic traits, were supported; findings which are consistent with past research (see Martin et al, 2019;Uljarevic & Hamilton, 2013). Decoding emotions is central to social interaction (Harms et al, 2010), therefore, the results suggest that autistic adults may be at a disadvantage in social relationships.…”

“…A further review (Black et al, 2017) concluded that the cognitive processes employed by autistic people are atypical, but patterns across studies are inconsistent. These results extend to the non‐autistic population, with autistic traits predicting emotion recognition ability; people with higher autistic traits perform more poorly overall (e.g., Martin et al, 2019). Other studies, however, show that autistic adults (e.g., Adolphs et al, 2001) and children (e.g., Shanok et al, 2019) perform comparably to non‐autistic peers.…”

“…Additional research into emotion recognition and context is needed, which addresses both issues. This has begun in studies with children with autism and the non‐autistic adult population (see Martin et al, 2019; Metcalfe et al, 2019). These studies use CGI animated videos and reveal that an autism diagnosis, increased autistic‐like‐traits, and a lack of contextual cues lead to less accurate emotion perception.…”

“…George Murray: Conception, design, critically revising the article. predicting emotion recognition ability; people with higher autistic traits perform more poorly overall (e.g., Martin et al, 2019). Other studies, however, show that autistic adults (e.g., Adolphs et al, 2001) and children (e.g., Shanok et al, 2019) perform comparably to non-autistic peers.…”

An evaluation of the distribution properties, factor structure, and item response profile of an assessment of emotion recognition

“…The assessment stimuli also vary in the amount of contextual information available. This is important because research has indicated that the amount and type of contextual information can impact differentially on the accuracy of ER in individuals with and without a developmental disability (Barrett et al, 2011;McKenzie et al, 2001;Martin et al, 2019;Murray et al, 2019;Scotland et al, 2016;Teh et al, 2018).…”