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Perceived Intensity of Emotional Point–Light Displays is Reduced in Subjects with ASD

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Abstract

One major characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is problems with social interaction and communication. The present study explored ASD-related alterations in perceiving emotions expressed via body movements. 16 participants with ASD and 16 healthy controls observed video scenes of human interactions conveyed by point–light displays. They rated the valence of the depicted emotions in terms of their intensity and judged their confidence in their ratings. Results showed that healthy participants rated emotional interactions displaying positive emotionality as being more intense and were more confident about their ratings than ASD subjects. Results support the idea that patients with ASD have an altered perception of emotions. This extends research on subjective features (intensity, confidence) of emotion perception to the domain of emotional body movements and kinematics.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Fabian Helm and Helge Gebhardt, Sonja Katharina Magdalena von Usslar and Daria Brilatus for their helpful support. We thank Jonathan Harrow for native-speaker advice.

Author Contributions

BK conception and design of the work, data analysis and interpretation, drafting the article, critical revision of the article, final approval of the work to be published; MK conception and design of the work, data collection, data analysis; SP conception and design of the work, final approval of the version to be submitted; S-SS data analysis, participation in drafting the article; JH revising the article critically for important intellectual content; RS conception of the work; SL conception and design of the work; BG conception of the work; GS conception of the work; KZ conception of the work, revising the article critically for important intellectual content; JM conception of the work, revising the article critically, final approval.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Sports Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Kugelberg 62, 35394, Giessen, Germany

    Britta Krüger, Sebastian Pilgramm, Sven-Sören Schwippert & Jörn Munzert

  2. Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Britta Krüger, Sebastian Pilgramm, Sven-Sören Schwippert, Rudolf Stark & Karen Zentgraf

  3. Institute for Sports Science, University of Munster, Munster, Germany

    Karen Zentgraf

  4. Cognitive Neuroscience Group, Center for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    Morten Kaletsch, Bernd Gallhofer & Gebhard Sammer

  5. Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany

    Stefanie Lis

  6. Department of Personality Psychology and Individual Differences, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany

    Jürgen Hennig

  7. Institute of Psychology, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany

    Sebastian Pilgramm

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  1. Britta Krüger
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  2. Morten Kaletsch
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  3. Sebastian Pilgramm
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Correspondence to Britta Krüger.

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Krüger, B., Kaletsch, M., Pilgramm, S. et al. Perceived Intensity of Emotional Point–Light Displays is Reduced in Subjects with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 1–11 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3286-y

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