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Assessment of the Emotional Sphere of Children with Typical Development and Autism Spectrum Disorders Based on an Interdisciplinary Approach

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Abstract

The aim of the study is to reveal the features of the emotional sphere of children with typical development (TD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using the developed interdisciplinary methodological approach. The approach includes two blocks—information about the development of the child (questionnaires for parents) and testing the child, containing tasks aimed at studying the manifestation of the emotional state in the characteristics of voice, speech, facial expressions, behavior and recognition by children of the emotional states of other people by voice and facial expression. The participants of the study were 70 children: 50 with TD and 20 with ASD. An audio recording of the speech, video recording of facial expressions and behavior of children during testing was made. Normative data were obtained—scores on questionnaires and scales, the results of psychophysiological testing of children. Differences between children with TD and ASD were determined according to the scales of the questionnaires: general information about development, the emotional sphere, additional information about child’s behavior; by scores in the test tasks for recognition and manifestation of emotions by children. This study is the first step in the development of new fundamental approaches to the diagnosis, rehabilitation and education of children with atypical development using methods for automatically recognizing children’s emotional states by vocalizations, speech and facial expression.

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Funding

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 22-45-02007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

    O. V. Frolova, E. A. Kleshnev, A. S. Grigorev, Yu. O. Filatova & E. E. Lyakso

Authors
  1. O. V. Frolova
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  2. E. A. Kleshnev
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  3. A. S. Grigorev
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  4. Yu. O. Filatova
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  5. E. E. Lyakso
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to O. V. Frolova.

Ethics declarations

Ethical standards. All studies were carried out in accordance with the principles of biomedical ethics formulated in the Declaration of Helsinki of 1964 and its subsequent updates, and approved by the Ethics Committee of St. Petersburg State University (St. Petersburg).

Informed consent. Parents of all children provided written informed consent, signed by them after explaining to them the potential risks and benefits and the nature of the upcoming study.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The authors declare the absence of obvious and potential conflicts of interest related to the publication of this paper.

CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS TO THE PUBLICATION

Conceptualization: Е.Е. Lyakso, O.V. Frolova, Yu.О. Filatova. Study planning: Е.Е. Lyakso, О.V. Fro-lova, А.S. Grigorev. Methodology: Е.Е. Lyakso, О.V. Frolova, Yu.О. Filatova. Investigation, data analysis, paper writing: E.E. Lyakso, O.V. Frolova, E.A. Kleshnev, Yu.O. Filatova, A.S. Grigorev.

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Frolova, O.V., Kleshnev, E.A., Grigorev, A.S. et al. Assessment of the Emotional Sphere of Children with Typical Development and Autism Spectrum Disorders Based on an Interdisciplinary Approach. Hum Physiol 49, 216–224 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119723700238

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119723700238

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