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Familiar Face Recognition in Children with Autism: The Differential use of Inner and Outer Face Parts

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Abstract

We investigated whether children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) have a deficit in recognising familiar faces. Children with ASD were given a forced choice familiar face recognition task with three conditions: full faces, inner face parts and outer face parts. Control groups were children with developmental delay (DD) and typically developing (TD) children. Children with ASD and children with DD recognised slightly fewer faces than did TD children, but there was no ASD-specific deficit. All groups displayed the same pattern of face part superiority: full-face superiority over inner face, and inner face superiority over outer face. Therefore, the pattern of familiar face recognition by children with ASD was similar to the pattern found in other children.

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Abbreviations

ASD:

Autistic Spectrum Disorders

DD:

Developmental Delay

TD:

Typically Developing

BPVS:

British Picture Vocabulary Scale

VMA:

Verbal Mental Age

CA:

Chronological Age

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Freemantles School Chertsey, U.K., Rowangate School, Wellingborough, U.K. and Birkdale School, Sheffield. U.K., and all the children, parents and staff for their co-operation in this project. This research was funded by the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

    Rebecca Wilson, Olivier Pascalis & Mark Blades

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  1. Rebecca Wilson
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  2. Olivier Pascalis
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  3. Mark Blades
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Correspondence to Rebecca Wilson.

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Wilson, R., Pascalis, O. & Blades, M. Familiar Face Recognition in Children with Autism: The Differential use of Inner and Outer Face Parts. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 314–320 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0169-z

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