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Brief Report: Face-Specific Recognition Deficits in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

This study used eyetracking to investigate the ability of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to recognize social (faces) and nonsocial (simple objects and complex block patterns) stimuli using the visual paired comparison (VPC) paradigm. Typically developing (TD) children showed evidence for recognition of faces and simple objects, but not complex block patterns. Children with ASD were successful at recognizing novel objects and block patterns, but showed no evidence for face recognition. These findings suggest that young children with ASD have specific impairments in face recognition, and that they may have advantage over TD controls when processing complex nonsocial stimuli.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Alliance for Autism Research foundation, NIMH Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment grant U54 MH66494, Autism Centers of Excellence grant P50 MH081756 project 2 (PI: KC), and NIMH grant T32 MH18268 (FS). We would like to thank Celine Saulnier for her contribution to the characterization of the participants in this study and Jessica Reed, Brittany Butler, Rebecca Doggett, Paula Ogston, and Joslin Latz for their assistance in high-quality data collection. We would especially like to express our gratitude to the children and families who participated and continue to participate in our research.

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  1. Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 40 Temple St., Suite 7D, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Jessica Bradshaw, Frederick Shic & Katarzyna Chawarska

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  1. Jessica Bradshaw
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  2. Frederick Shic
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  3. Katarzyna Chawarska
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Bradshaw, J., Shic, F. & Chawarska, K. Brief Report: Face-Specific Recognition Deficits in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 41, 1429–1435 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1150-4

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