Social Anxiety Symptoms Predict Poorer Facial Emotion Recognition in Autistic Male Adolescents and Young Adults Without Intellectual Disability

Ligia Antezana; Andrew Valdespino; Andrea T Wieckowski; Marika C Coffman; Corinne N Carlton; Katelyn M Garcia; Denis Gracanin; Susan W White; John A Richey

doi:10.1007/s10803-023-05998-5

Social Anxiety Symptoms Predict Poorer Facial Emotion Recognition in Autistic Male Adolescents and Young Adults Without Intellectual Disability

J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Apr 29. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-05998-5. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ligia Antezana^{1

2}, Andrew Valdespino^{3

4}, Andrea T Wieckowski^{3

5}, Marika C Coffman^{3

6

7}, Corinne N Carlton³, Katelyn M Garcia³, Denis Gracanin⁸, Susan W White^{3

9}, John A Richey³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, 109 Williams Hall, 890 Drillfield Drive, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA. antezanald@upmc.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. antezanald@upmc.edu.
³ Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, 109 Williams Hall, 890 Drillfield Drive, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA.
⁴ James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL, USA.
⁵ A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁶ Duke University Center for Autism and Brain Development, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁸ Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
⁹ Center for Youth Development and Intervention and Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA.

PMID: 37120659
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-05998-5

Abstract

Utilizing a novel computerized task, we aimed to examine whether social anxiety symptoms would be related to individual differences in facial emotion recognition (FER) in a sample of autistic male adolescents and young adults without intellectual disability. Results indicated that social anxiety and IQ predicted poorer FER, irrespective of specific emotion type. When probing specific effects within emotion and condition types, social anxiety impacted surprise and disgust FER during a truncated viewing condition and not full viewing condition. Collectively, results suggest that social anxiety in autism may play a larger role in FER than previously thought. Future work should consider the role of social anxiety within autism as a factor that may meaningfully relate to FER assessment and intervention.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Facial emotion recognition; Social anxiety; Social cognition.

Grants and funding

R33MH100268/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/United States