Atypically slow processing of faces and non-faces in older autistic adults.
Joe Bathelt, P Cédric Mp Koolschijn, Hilde M Geurts
PMID 34961340WHAT IT FOUND
Older autistic adults were slower at recognizing faces and letters than controls, but accuracy matched when time was not restricted.
This reflects general processing speed differences rather than a specific deficit in face recognition.
Key findings
01Autistic adults had slower reaction times on face and non-face tasks than controls, but accuracy differences disappeared in the self-paced version.
02Reaction times were slower for autistic adults on global and local letter tasks, indicating general processing speed differences rather than specific face or visual processing deficits.
03fMRI showed no differences in core face-processing brain regions, but lower activation in superior frontal gyrus clusters associated with cognitive control.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted of autistic adults with IQs above 80 and relatively mild traits, so results may not generalize to those with intellectual impairment or more severe autism. The study used abstract Mooney faces and scrambled controls, which may not reflect how people process real-world, dynamic faces. The AQ and ADOS measures have questioned psychometric properties in older adults, potentially affecting diagnostic confirmation accuracy.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and an Amsterdam Brain & Cognition Talent Grant. The funding bodies had no role in the study design, analysis, or manuscript preparation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that older autistic adults have a core impairment in face recognition. The primary finding is slower processing speed. When given unlimited time, their accuracy in identifying faces was not different from controls.