Atypical facial mimicry for basic emotions in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Kids with autism copy faces less intensely, and the shortfall links to mind-reading trouble.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Shuo et al. watched the kids copy happy, sad, angry, and scared faces. Half had autism, half were typical.
Electrodes on the face measured tiny muscle moves. Kids also took a quick mind-reading test.
What they found
Children with autism made weaker face copies. The gap was biggest for happy, sad, and scared.
Poor mind-reading scores explained most of the gap.
How this fits with other research
Kasari et al. (2011) and Bauminger et al. (2003) saw the same kids sit alone at lunch and feel lonely. Weak face mimicry may be one reason why.
Kangas et al. (2011) gave parents a short theory-of-mind checklist. Their scores matched the lab mimicry scores, so you can screen without electrodes.
Muskat et al. (2016) found that teachers clash with kids who have low social skills. Low mimicry is an early warning sign you can spot before school starts.
Why it matters
You now have a fast red flag. If a child shows flat or slow facial replies, check mind-reading next. Add mimicry games to your social-skills program and track change with the parent checklist from Kangas et al. (2011).
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
During social encounters, people tend to reproduce the facial expressions of others, termed "facial mimicry," which is believed to underlie many important social cognitive functions. Clinically, atypical mimicry is closely associated with serious social dysfunction. However, findings regarding the facial mimicry ability of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are inconsistent; it is necessary to test whether deficits in facial mimicry are core defects of autism and explore the potential mechanism underlying this process. Using quantitative analysis, this study investigated voluntary and automatic facial mimicry performance of six basic expressions in children with and without ASD. There was no significant group difference in mimicry accuracy, but children with ASD showed less intensity in voluntary and automatic mimicry than typically developing children; they also presented less voluntary mimicry intensity for happy, sad, and fearful expressions. Performance on voluntary and automatic mimicry was significantly correlated with the level of autistic symptoms (r >-.43) and theory of mind (r >.34). Furthermore, theory of mind mediated the relationship between autistic symptoms and the intensity of facial mimicry. These results suggest that individuals with ASD show atypical facial mimicry (i.e., less intensity for both voluntary and automatic mimicry, mainly for voluntary mimicry of happiness, sadness, and fear), which might offer a potential cognitive marker for quantifying syndrome manifestations in children with ASD. These findings suggest that theory of mind plays a mediating role in facial mimicry, which may provide insight into the theoretical mechanism of social dysfunction in children with autism.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2023 · doi:10.1002/aur.2957