Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Brief Report: Seeing the Man in the Moon: Do Children with Autism Perceive Pareidolic Faces? A Pilot Study

  • Brief Report
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Faces are one of the most socially significant visual stimuli encountered in the environment, whereas pareidolias are illusions of faces arising from ambiguous stimuli in the environment. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by deficits in response to social stimuli. We found that children with ASD (n = 60) identify significantly fewer pareidolic faces in a sequence of ambiguous stimuli than typically developing peers. The two groups did not differ in the number of objects identified, indicating that the children with ASD had a specific lack of attention to faces. Pareidolia have considerable potential as naturalistic and easy-to-create materials for the investigation of spontaneous attention to social stimuli in children with ASD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Akechi, H., Kikuchi, Y., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Hasegawa, T. (2014). Neural and behavioural resposnes to face-likeness of objects in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Scientific Reports, 4(3874), 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akechi, H., Stein, T., Kikuchi, Y., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Hasegawa, T. (2015). Preferential awareness of protofacial stimuli in autism. Cognition, 143, 29–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th edn.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Annaz, D., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Johnson, M. H., & Thomas, M. C. (2009). A cross-syndrome study of the development of holistic face recognition in children with autism, Down syndrome, and Williams syndrome. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102(4), 456–486.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chawarska, K., Volkmar, F., & Klin, A. (2010). Limited attentional bias for faces in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67, 178–185.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chevallier, C., Huguet, P., Happe, F., George, N., & Conty, L. (2012). Salient social cues are prioritized in autism spectrum disorders despite overall decrease in social attention. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(7), 1642–1651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012). The social motivation theory of autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(4), 231–239.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, K. M., Nacewicz, B. M., Johnstone, T., Schaefer, H. S., Gernsbacher, M. A., Goldsmith, H. H., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2005). Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism. Nature Neuroscience, 8(4), 519–526.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., O’Sullivan, M., Chan, A., Diacoyanni-Tarlatzis, I., Heider, K., & Scherer, K. (1987). Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(4), 712–717.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, M. C., Vul, E., & Johnson, S. P. (2009). Development of infants’ attention to faces during the first year. Cognition, 110(2), 160–170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goren, C. C., Sarty, M., & Wu, P. Y. (1975). Visual following and pattern discrimination of face-like stimuli by newborn infants. Pediatrics, 56(4), 544–549.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guillon, Rogé, Q., B,. Afzali, M, H., Baduel, S., Kruck, J., & Hadjikhani, N. (2016). Intact perception but abnormal orientation towards face-like objects in young children with ASD. Scientific Reports, 6(22119), 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadjikhani, N., Kveraga, K., Naik, P., & Ahlfors, S. (2009). Early (N170) activation of face-specific cortex by face-like objects. Neuroreport, 20(4), 403–407.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hershler, O., & Hochstein, S. (2005). At first sight: A high level pop out effect for faces. Vision Research, 45(13), 1707–1724.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kikuchi, Y., Senju, A., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Hasegawa, T. (2009). Faces do not capture special attention in children with autism spectrum disorder: A change blindness study. Child Development, 80(5), 1421–1433.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klin, A., Sparrow, S. S., De Bildt, A., Cicchetti, D. V., Cohen, D. J., & Volkmar, F. R. (1999). A normed study of face recognition in autism and related disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 29(6), 499–508.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kylliäinen, A., Wallace, S., Coutanche, M. N., Leppänen, J. M., Cusack, J., Bailey, A. J., & Hietanen, J. K. (2012). Affective–motivational brain responses to direct gaze in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(7), 790–797.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Langton, S. R., Law, A. S., Burton, M. A., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2008). Attention capture by faces. Cognition, 107, 330–342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J., Li, J., Feng, L., Li, L., Tian, J., & Lee, K. (2014). Seeing Jesus in toast: neural and behavioral correlates of face pareidolia. Cortex: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior, 53, 60–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. J., Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., Pickles, A., & Rutter, M. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule—generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(3), 205–223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism diagnostic interview-revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(5), 659–685.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Macmillan, N. A., & Creelman, C. D. (2005). Detection theory: A user’s guide (2nd edn.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maranhão-Filho, P., & Vincent, M. B. (2009). Neuropareidolia: Diagnostic clues apropos of visual illusions. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 67, 1117–1123.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maurer, D., Le Grand, R., & Mondloch, C. (2002). The many faces of configural processing. Trends in Cognitive Science, 6(6), 255–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palermo, R., & Rhodes, G. (2007). Are you always on my mind? A review of how face perception and attention interact. Neuropsychologia, 45, 75–92.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pelphrey, K. A., Sasson, N. J., Reznick, J. S., Paul, G., Goldman, B. D., & Piven, J. (2002). Visual scanning of faces in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32(4), 249–261.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pitskel, N. B., Bolling, D. Z., Hudac, C. M., Lantz, S. D., Minshew, N. J., Vander Wyk, B. C., & Pelphrey, K. A. (2011). Brain mechanisms for processing direct and averted gaze in individuals with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(12), 1686–1693.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Riby, D. M., & Hancock, P. B. (2009). Do faces capture the attention of individuals with Williams syndrome or Autism? Evidence from tracking eye movements. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(3), 421–431.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, P., Gaule, A., Bird, G., & Cook, R. (2013). Robust orienting to protofacial stimuli in autism. Current Biology, 23(24), 1087–1088.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takashashi, K., & Watanabe, K. (2013). Gaze cueing by pareidolia faces. i-Perception, 4, 490–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomarken, A. J., & Serlin, R. C. (1986). Comparison of ANOVA alternatives under variance heterogeneity and specific noncentrality structures. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 90–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wing, L., Leekam, S. R., Libby, S. J., Gould, J., & Larcombe, M. (2002). The diagnostic interview for social and communication disorders: Background, inter-rater reliability and clinical use. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 43, 307–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, J. M., Tanaka, J. W., Klairman, C., Cockburn, J., Herlihy, L., Brown, C., South, M., McPartland, J., Kaiser, M. D., Philips, R., & Schultz, R. T. (2008). Specific impairment of face processing abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder using the Let’s Face It! skills battery. Journal of Autism Research, 1, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (1992). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weigelt, S., Koldewyn, K., & Kanwisher, N. (2012). Face identity recognition in autism spectrum disorders: A review of behavioral studies. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 36(3), 1060–1084.

Download references

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all the children and families who took part in the study. The manuscript was prepared based on the thesis submitted by the second author to University College, Cork.

Author Contributions

The study was conceived by MS, in discussion with RK and CR. MS designed the study and collected the data. Data analysis was done by CR and MS. CR coordinated and drafted the manuscript with contributions from both RK and MS. All authors read and approved of the final manuscript. 

Funding

This study was carried out without external funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, North Lee ASD Service, COPE Foundation, Bridgeway, Penrose Wharf, Cork, Ireland

    Christian Ryan

  2. School of Applied Psychology, University College, Cork, Ireland

    Martina Stafford & Robert James King

Authors
  1. Christian Ryan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Martina Stafford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert James King
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Ryan.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

All authors declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 51 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ryan, C., Stafford, M. & King, R.J. Brief Report: Seeing the Man in the Moon: Do Children with Autism Perceive Pareidolic Faces? A Pilot Study. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3838–3843 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2927-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2927-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation