Face memory and face perception in autism.
Mirta Stantić, Eri Ichijo, Caroline Catmur and 1 others
PMID 34160282WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults scored lower than non-autistic adults on tests of face memory and face perception, and reported more difficulty recognizing faces.
Performance varied widely, so these results do not show that every autistic person struggles with faces.
Key findings
01Autistic participants scored significantly lower than non-autistic participants on the test of face memory.
02Autistic participants also scored significantly lower than non-autistic participants on two tests of face perception.
03Autistic participants reported significantly more difficulties with face recognition on a self-report questionnaire.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small, particularly for women, so the study could not examine whether these effects differ by gender. Socioeconomic status and educational attainment were not recorded, so it is unclear if the results would apply to all autistic adults. The tests used require face matching, which involves decision-making, so it is unclear whether poor performance was due to perception, attention, memory, or decision criteria. The study design cannot identify the specific cause of atypical performance in any individual.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the Economic and Social Research Council, St Catherine’s College University of Oxford, and the Baily Thomas Charitable Fund.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that all autistic individuals have impaired face recognition. While the group average was lower, many autistic participants performed within or above the non-autistic range, and the study does not show that every person with autism struggles with faces.