Abstract
Face-processing deficits, while not required for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), have been associated with impaired social skills—a core feature of ASD; however, the strength and prevalence of this relationship remains unclear. Across 445 participants from the NIMH Data Archive, we examined the relationship between Benton Face Recognition Test (BFRT) performance and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Social Affect (ADOS-SA) scores. Lower BFRT scores (worse face-processing performance) were associated with higher ADOS-SA scores (higher ASD severity)—a relationship that held after controlling for other factors associated with face processing, i.e., age, sex, and IQ. These findings underscore the utility of face discrimination, not just recognition of facial emotion, as a key covariate for the severity of symptoms that characterize ASD.
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Data Availability
Data and/or research tools used in the preparation of this manuscript were obtained from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Data Archive (NDA). NDA is a collaborative informatics system created by the National Institutes of Health to provide a national resource to support and accelerate research in mental health. Dataset identifier(s): Collection #1055, https://doi.org/10.15154/1520631. This manuscript reflects the views of the authors and may not reflect the opinions or views of the NIH or of the Submitters submitting original data to NDA.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Drs. Simon Warfield, PhD and Charles Nelson, PhD for their comments. This work was funded in part by a Shields Research grant from the Child Neurology Foundation to AC, and by NIH/NIMH K23MH120510.
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IZO and AC contributed to the study conception and design. IZO performed the data analyses with the help of a statistician (LS) and guidance of AC. IZO and MK drafted the manuscript, while AC critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Part of this analysis was presented at the Annual International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Conference, June 3rd, 2020.
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Zagury-Orly, I., Kroeck, M.R., Soussand, L. et al. Face-Processing Performance is an Independent Predictor of Social Affect as Measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Across Large-Scale Datasets. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 674–688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04971-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04971-4