Social cognition in autism: Face tuning

Abstract

Faces convey valuable information for social cognition, effective interpersonal interaction, and non-verbal communication. Face perception is believed to be atypical in autism, but the origin of this deficit is controversial. Dominant featural face encoding is suggested to be responsible for face tuning scarcity. Here we used a recently developed Face-n-Food paradigm for studying face tuning in individuals with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The key benefit of these images is that single components do not explicitly trigger face processing. In a spontaneous recognition task, adolescents with autism and typically developing matched controls were presented with a set of Face-n-Food images in different degree resembling a face (slightly bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style). The set of images was shown in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. Thresholds for recognition of the Face-n-Food images as a face in ASD individuals were substantially higher than in typically developing controls: they did not report seeing a face on the images, which controls easily recognized as a face, and gave overall fewer face responses. This outcome not only lends support to atypical face tuning, but provides novel insights into the origin of face encoding deficits in autism.

Do you see the “face”? Individual differences in face pareidolia

“…In this framework, in Scenario 1, those who experience more face pareidolia may have lower discrimination sensitivity (d') between faces and non-face objects. This might be due to a leftward shift in face-tuning function in face detection, as shown in many studies (Pavlova, Galli et al, 2018;Pavlova et al, 2017;Pavlova et al, 2015). In Scenario 2, those who experience more face pareidolia may have a looser decision criterion for reporting face detection.…”

Case Study of a Digital Augmented Reality Intervention for Autism in School Classrooms: Associated With Improved Social Communication, Cognition, and Motivation via Educator and Parent Assessment

“…The human face is one of the most powerful tools in social communication (Jack and Schyns, 2015), and is of fundamental importance in interpersonal interactions (Pavlova et al, 2017). Faces display information regarding traits, stable features such as gender and identity, and more dynamic facial data that helps with understanding of emotion, intention, attention, and understanding speech (Lee et al, 1998;Pascalis et al, 2011).…”

Augmented Reality Intervention for Social Communication in Autism in a School Classroom: Rated by Teachers and Parents as Effective and Usable in a Controlled, Longitudinal Pilot Study.

“…The human face is one of the most powerful tools in social communication (40), and is of fundamental importance in interpersonal interactions (41). Faces display information regarding traits, stable features such as gender and identity, and more dynamic facial data that helps with understanding of emotion, intention, attention, and understanding speech (42,43).…”