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Recognizing Biological Motion and Emotions from Point-Light Displays in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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  • Evelien Nackaerts
  • Johan Wagemans
  • Werner Helsen
  • Stephan P Swinnen
  • Nicole Wenderoth
  • Kaat Alaerts

Abstract

One of the main characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are problems with social interaction and communication. Here, we explored ASD-related alterations in ‘reading’ body language of other humans. Accuracy and reaction times were assessed from two observational tasks involving the recognition of ‘biological motion’ and ‘emotions’ from point-light displays (PLDs). Eye movements were recorded during the completion of the tests. Results indicated that typically developed-participants were more accurate than ASD-subjects in recognizing biological motion or emotions from PLDs. No accuracy differences were revealed on two control-tasks (involving the indication of color-changes in the moving point-lights). Group differences in reaction times existed on all tasks, but effect sizes were higher for the biological and emotion recognition tasks. Biological motion recognition abilities were related to a person’s ability to recognize emotions from PLDs. However, ASD-related atypicalities in emotion recognition could not entirely be attributed to more basic deficits in biological motion recognition, suggesting an additional ASD-specific deficit in recognizing the emotional dimension of the point light displays. Eye movements were assessed during the completion of tasks and results indicated that ASD-participants generally produced more saccades and shorter fixation-durations compared to the control-group. However, especially for emotion recognition, these altered eye movements were associated with reductions in task-performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Evelien Nackaerts & Johan Wagemans & Werner Helsen & Stephan P Swinnen & Nicole Wenderoth & Kaat Alaerts, 2012. "Recognizing Biological Motion and Emotions from Point-Light Displays in Autism Spectrum Disorders," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-12, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0044473
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0044473
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kaat Alaerts & Evelien Nackaerts & Pieter Meyns & Stephan P Swinnen & Nicole Wenderoth, 2011. "Action and Emotion Recognition from Point Light Displays: An Investigation of Gender Differences," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(6), pages 1-9, June.
    2. Ami Klin & David J. Lin & Phillip Gorrindo & Gordon Ramsay & Warren Jones, 2009. "Two-year-olds with autism orient to non-social contingencies rather than biological motion," Nature, Nature, vol. 459(7244), pages 257-261, May.
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