Enhancing the ability of adults with mental retardation to recognize facial expressions of emotion.
A quick DTI package reliably teaches adults with ID to read facial emotions, with gains that last almost a year.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Seven adults with moderate to severe intellectual disability took part.
The team used three steps: discrimination training, directed rehearsal, and a flashing-photo trick.
They ran discrete trials until each adult hit a large share correct on six basic emotions.
What they found
All seven adults jumped at least a large share during training.
By the end they scored a large share or better on new faces and on video role-plays.
Eight to nine months later the gains were still there.
How this fits with other research
Fink et al. (2014) looked at autistic kids and found no emotion-recognition gap once verbal skill was held steady.
That seems to clash with Repp et al. (1992), but the key is diagnosis: Elian studied autistic children, C et al. studied adults with intellectual disability.
Buskist et al. (1988) used constant time-delay to teach cooking chains to teens with ID.
Their success with prompting and fading set the stage for C et al. to apply similar ABA tactics to social skills.
Payne et al. (2020) later showed high-functioning autistic teens still struggle with negative faces.
Together the papers map who needs emotion training (adults with ID) and who may not (autistic kids with strong language).
Why it matters
If you serve adults with intellectual disability, you can teach them to read faces in just a few weeks.
Use short DTI blocks, flash the photos fast, and rehearse right after.
The skill sticks for almost a year and moves to real videos.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The ability to recognize accurately and respond appropriately to facial expressions of emotion is essential for interpersonal interaction. Individuals with mental retardation typically are deficient in these skills. The ability of 7 adults, 1 with severe and 6 with moderate mental retardation, to recognize facial expressions of emotion correctly was assessed. Then, they were taught this skill using a combination of a discrimination training procedure for differentiating facial movements, directed rehearsal, and Ekman and Friesen's "flashing photograph" technique. Their average increase in accuracy over baseline was at least 30% during the course of the training and over 50% during the last 5 days of the training phase. Further, these individuals were able to generalize their skills from posed photographs to videotaped role plays and were able to maintain their enhanced skills during the 8 to 9 months following the termination of training. This is the first study to show that individuals with mental retardation can be taught skills that enhance their ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion.
Behavior modification, 1992 · doi:10.1177/01454455920164007