Introduction/Purpose: Previous research has shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit deficits in facial emotion perception (FEP). This study examined the FEP in children with ASD under affective conditions taking age differences into account.
Method: This study included 70 children with ASD (Young: n = 35 ; Mage (SD) = 7.18 (0.42) years; Old: n = 35; Mage (SD) = 9.18 (1.08) years) and 70 typical developing children (TD; Young: n = 35 ; Mage (SD) = 7.64 (0.21) years; Old: n = 35 ; Mage (SD) = 9.52 (1.42) years), all with a Verbal Intelligence Quotient above 70 using PPVT-Chinese version. Participants' FEP was assessed using the Facial Expression Recognition Task, involving 30 photos (10 neutral, 10 happy, 10 angry) presented under three music conditions (none, happy, angry). Photo stimuli and music conditions were counterbalanced across participants, accuracy and reaction time (RT) were recorded.
Results: Two three-way mixed-design ANOVA were conducted with group (ASD vs. TD), age (Young vs. Old), and music condition (none, happy, angry) as independent variables. For accuracy, the three-way interaction was significant in recognizing neutral faces (F(2, 258) = 6.32, p = .002). Furthermore, the old ASD and young TD groups showed significantly higher accuracy in the happy and angry music conditions compared to the no-music condition. For RT, the main effect of music was significant across the three facial expressions (F(2,250) = 8.90, F(2,270) =9.78, F(2,268) =8.62, ps < .001), indicating that both groups showed significantly shorter RTs in the music conditions than in the no-music condition.
Conclusion: The study found that FEP in children with ASD improved under affective music conditions. These findings provide empirical support for developing multisensory FEP interventions for school-aged children with ASD.