Correlations between facial emotion recognition and cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Purpose Various studies have examined the role of executive functions in autism, but there is a lack of research in the current literature on cognitive flexibility in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether cognitive flexibility deficits could be related to facial emotion recognition deficits in ASD. Design/methodology/approach In total, 20 children with ASD and 20 typically developing children, matched for intelligence quotient and gender, were examined both in facial emotion recognition tasks and in cognitive flexibility tasks through the dimensional change card sorting task. Findings Despite cognitive flexibility not being a core deficit in ASD, impaired cognitive flexibility is evident in the present research. Results show that cognitive flexibility is related to facial emotion recognition and support the hypothesis of an executive specific deficit in children with autism. Research limitations/implications One of the limit is the use of just one cognitive test to measure cognitive flexibility and facial recognition. This could be important to be taken into account in the new research. By increasing the number of common variables assessing cognitive flexibility, this will allow for a better comparison between studies to characterize impairment in cognitive flexibility in ASD. Practical implications Investigating impairment in cognitive flexibility may help to plan training intervention based on the induction of flexibility. Social implications If the authors implement cognitive flexibility people with ASD can have also an effect on their social behavior and overcome the typical and repetitive behaviors that are the hallmark of ASD. Originality/value The originality is to relate cognitive flexibility deficits to facial emotion.

Neurophysiological and behavioral effects of multisession prefrontal tDCS and concurrent cognitive remediation training in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): A double-blind, randomized controlled fNIRS study

“…In addition, we showed that social communication, which was enhanced by the treatment, was significantly associated with emotion recognition, an essential skill for social interaction that previous studies have shown is deficient in individuals with ASD [4,60]. Notably, CF is associated with emotional recognition in healthy children [61] as well as in people with ASD [17], as emotion recognition has been shown to require flexible reasoning strategies in response to a situation [62]. In other words, our results may imply that tDCS with left dlPFC cathode placement and right supraorbital region anode placement and concurrent "cold" EF cognitive remediation training may promote flexible problem solving.…”

“…Importantly, a number of studies J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f have demonstrated that CF deficits are associated with impaired social interaction skills such as emotion recognition, given emotion recognition is regarded as "hot" EF (i.e., EF that involves affective processing; [12]). For example, using a variant of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Fabio et al [17] showed that the performance of children with ASD decreased after the card sorting rule had changed, and this impaired performance was positively correlated with impaired emotion recognition abilities. Moreover, Strang et al [18] showed that slower performance on the Trail Making Test (which involves rule switching) significantly correlated with more inflexible behaviors in daily life.…”

Social Humanoid Robots for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of Modalities, Indications, and Pitfalls

“…However, this could represent overstimulation, and it is well-known that sensory overstimulation is a serious problem for many children with ASD [ 16 ]. Moreover, NAO cannot express facial emotions, and this may not be helpful for children with difficulties in recognizing human facial emotional expressions [ 1 , 2 , 17 ]. For this reason, a robot cannot appear both extremely human-like and socially simple [ 14 ].…”

The development and content validity of the emotional recognition memory training program (ERMTP) for children with autism spectrum disorder: A trial phase

“…Additionally, the study showed a correlation between facial recognition, sensory perception, attention, and memory. 30 Hyper-emotional arousal in ASD children causes emotional dysregulation and cognitive impairment. 31 Emotional arousal governs both positive and negative reactions and is more associated with ER memory.…”