Abstract

JODRA, Marina  and  GARCIA-VILLAMISAR, Domingo. Impact of emotional activation on the recognition of emotions in adults with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability. Acción psicol. [online]. 2019, vol.16, n.2, pp.103-118.  Epub July 25, 2022. ISSN 2255-1271.  https://dx.doi.org/10.5944/ap.16.2.25566.

One of the core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is the deficit in the socio-emotional area, showing atypical response patterns to social stimuli and responding with different levels of activation or arousal (hyperexcitation or hypoexcitation). Some investigations have shown how exposure to negative valence images has an effect on the subsequent recognition of emotions in a population without ASD. In contrast, the few studies that exist on emotional permeability in people with ASD show atypical patterns of physiological response to the induction of emotions. In the present investigation, the impact of "negative" emotional induction is analyzed, through images of the International Affective Picture System (IAPS, Lang et al., 1995), in the recognition of emotions through the face through Facial Discrimination Battery (FDB; Rojahn et al., 2006), in a group of 31 adults with ASD and intellectual disability. An ANOVA of repeated measures was performed and the results demonstrated the existence of a certain emotional "impermeability", since the induction of emotions did not influence the subsequent emotional recognition. These results are consistent with the hypoexcitation model, which argues that people with ASD experience less excitement or reward when they attend to social stimuli.

Keywords : Autism; Social behavior; Emotional development; Emotions; Emotional response; Autism spectrum disorders.

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