孤独症儿童混合面部表情识别及面孔性别区分能力研究

Recognition of emotional expressions in blended faces and gender discrimination by children with autism

【目的】测试孤独症儿童混合面部表情的识别能力及通过眼和嘴对面孔性别进行区分的能力。【方法】采用自制计算机系统对32例孤独症儿童和32例正常儿童进行测试并分析,以正确率、反应时和错误类型为分析指标,两组儿童在发展年龄上进行匹配。【结果】1)孤独症组儿童识别混合面部表情的平均正确率小于正常对照组〔(58.0±15.6)%和(78.4±13.5)%,t=5.4,P=0.000〕,平均反应时长于正常对照组[(9 948.3±3 116.2)ms和(5 617.0±1 362.9)ms,t=4.7,P=0.000]。2)孤独症组儿童区分面孔性别的平均正确率小于正常对照组[眼部为(76.7±11.5)%和(86.6±10.9)%,嘴部为(66.2±12.8)%和(73.1±10.7)%],平均反应时长于正常对照组[眼部为(4 138.7±542.0)ms和(2 721.9±636.6)ms,嘴部为(3 807.8±710.1)ms和(2 836.5±619.9)ms]。【结论】孤独症组儿童在做关于面部表情的判断时更依赖于面孔的下半部分信息;他们可以使用来自眼部的信息来加工面孔的性别信息,而与正常对照组相比他们没有显示出有使用嘴部信息来处理面孔性别信息的优势。

[Objective] To test the ability of the recognition of emotional expression in blended faces and gender discrimination of eyes and mouths by children with autism. [Methods] Thirty-two male children with autism and thirty-two typically developing children matched on developmental age and gender were selected. They were tested with the Emotional Expressions Recognition Software System developed in this research which took recognition accuracy rate and response time in different presentation manners as analysis indexes. [Results] 1）The accuracy rates of emotional expression were significantly lower in children with autism than in typically developing[ （58.0 ± 15.6）% vs （78. 4±13. 5）%, t =- 5.4, P = 0. 000],the response time was delayed[（9 948.3±3 116.2）ms vs（5 617.0±1 362.9）ms,t=4.7,P=0. 000]. 2）The accuracy rates of gender discrimination was significantly lower in children with autism than in typically developingEeye： （76.7±11.5） %vs（86.6±10.9） % ,mouth： （66.2 ± 12.8） %vs（73.1± 10.7） %], the response time was delayed[eye： （4 138.7± 542.0）ms vs（2 721.9±636.6）ms,mouth： （3 807.8±710.1）ms vs（2 836.5±619.9）ms]. [Conclusions] Children with autism are inclined to attend to the lower face when making judgments about emotional expressions;they can use information from eyes for gender discrimination,and do not appear to be superior to typically developing children at using mouth information to process gender information.