Autistic people’s ability to accurately identify facial expressions is affected by the speed at which the expression is produced and its intensity, according to new research at the University of Birmingham.
In particular, autistic people tend to be less able to accurately identify anger from facial expressions produced at a normal ‘real world’ speed. The researchers also found that for people with a related disorder, alexithymia, all expressions appeared more intensely emotional.
The question of how people with autism recognise and relate to emotional expression has been debated by scientists for more than three decades and it’s only in the past 10 years that the relationship between autism and alexithymia has been explored.
