Perception of Emotions by the Facial Expression in Children with ASD

Present study evaluates contribution of visual-spatial perception features in the perception of emotions by the facial expression in children with ASD (autism sprectrum disorder). Study involved 24 children with ASD (22 boys, 2 girls); the control group consisted of 26 children (24 boys, 2 girls) aged 5.5 to 9 years. Following methods were used: “Emotions” cards, “Finish the picture”, Rey-Osterrieth complex figure. Results of study allow us to make conclusion about inhomogeneity of different hemispheres contribution in the process of perception of emotions. Another conclusion is that there is need to distinguish the fragmentation factor on the process of emotion perception in contextual emotions recognition in children of experimental group. Also features of analysis strategy of emotions found, analysis is performed directly by facial expressions: less attention to the details of the person, to eye area during the assessing of somebody’s emotion. Revealed features can be used for further studies of emotion recognition by face as a cognitive task, and also for the development of correctional methods of emotions understanding for children with ASD.

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