MULTIMODAL ANALYSES OF FACE PROCESSING IN AUTISM & DOWN SYNDROME

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A growing body of literature indicates that persons with developmental disabilities have difficulties in the perception of emotion from facial cues in comparison with age-matched peers without disabilities. While such difficulties are often associated popularly with autism, they are also reported in persons with Down syndrome, and other developmental disabilities. Consistent with the general approach of this program project, our interest here is to compare two populations with disabilities associated with mental retardation - autism andDown Syndrome - that show reported difficulties inemotion perception, and to compare them with mental age-matched children who have exhibited typical development. The proposed program is the first stage of a longer-term plan to contrastthese populations to others, including otherwise typically developing children with congenital or early-acquired deafness and those with typical development. The contrast with children with deafness is of particular interest to us in that they have a developmental disability (albeit sensory), this disability affects communication with their parents and others, and may exhibit a developmental course that influences perceptions of emotion. The range of intellectual functioning in the autism is extremely broad, ranging from severely mentally retarded to gifted. In Down Syndrome, by contrast, the range of functioning is narrower, typically presenting with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities. In the proposed project, we will focus on this latter level of disability for both of our diagnostic groups. We will ask questions relating to stimulus control in facial stimuli in the populations of interest using several methods - discrimination training, eyetracking, andelectrophysiology. Whilethe project as presently conceived is basic in nature, the ultimate aim is translational and pointed toward the possibility that deficits in emotion recognition from facial cues may be correctable, in whole or in part, via training. Consistent with the general approach of the program project toward deficit amelioration, it seems reasonable to assert that effective training approaches must cohere with the nature of the deficit in relation to typical development. In analyzing the stimulus control relationships proposed, we hope to determine and contrast the status of emotion perception in our populations of interest and ultimately prepare ourselves for the development of evidence-based intervention procedures. PERSONNEL ENGAGED ON PROJECT, INCLUDING CONSULTANTS/COLLABORATORS. Usecontinuation pages as needed to provide the required information in the format shown below on all individuals participating in the project. Principal Investigator: Teresa Mitchell, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, UMMS Shriver Center Co-Investigator: W. J. Mcllvane, Ph.D., Director, UMMS Shriver Center & Director, UMMS Mental Retardation Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Professor of Psychiatry, UMMS Page 180 Studies of Stimulus Control in Mental Retardation Mcllvane, William J. Project 3: Mitchell & Mcllvane A. Specific Aims A growing body of literature indicates that persons with developmental disabilities have difficulties in the perception of emotion from facial cues in comparison with age-matched peers without disabilities. While such difficulties are often associated popularly with autism (Sigman, Kasari et al., 1992), they are also reported in persons with Down syndrome (Kasari, 2001), and other developmental disabilities (Rojahn, Lederer et al., 1995). Consistent with the general approach of this program project, our interest here is to compare two populations with disabilities associated with mental retardation- autism andDown Syndrome - that show reported difficulties in emotion perception, and to compare them with mental age-matched children who have exhibited typical development. The proposed program is the first stage of a longer-term plan to contrast these populations to others, including otherwise typically developing children with congenital or early-acquired deafness and those with typical development. The contrast with children with deafness is of particular interest to us in that they have a developmental disability (albeit sensory), this disability affects communication with their parents and others, and may exhibit a developmental course that influences perceptions of emotion. The range of intellectual functioning in the autism (AUT) is extremely broad, ranging from severely mentally retarded to gifted. In Down Syndrome (DS), by contrast, the range of functioning is narrower, typically presenting with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities. In the proposed project, we will focus on this latter level of disability for both of our diagnostic groups. We will not study individuals with Asperger's Syndrome or those referred to as "high functioning autistics", in part because others are already doing this elsewhere and, in part, because persons with DS who do not have intellectual disabilities are quite rare; constituting a matched sample would be virtually impossible. We will ask questions relating to stimulus control in facial stimuli in the populations of interest using several methods - discrimination training, eyetracking, and electrophysiology. While the project as presently conceived is basic in nature, the ultimate aim is translational and pointed toward the possibility that deficits in emotion recognition from facial cues may be correctable, in whole or in part, via training. Consistent with the general approach of the program project toward deficit amelioration, it seems reasonable to assert that effective training approaches must cohere with the nature of the deficit in relation to typical development. In analyzing the stimulus control relationships proposed, we hope to determine and contrast the status of emotion perception in our populations of interest and ultimately prepare ourselves for the development of evidence-based intervention procedures. The Specific Aims of this project are to: (1) contrast the development of stimulus control by facial features associated with emotion perception - assessed by behavioral, eyetracking, and electrophysiological measures - in individuals representing a subset of the population of individuals with AUT and SD (MA range 5-10; CA range: 8-14). (2) compare these individuals to MA-matched children without developmental disabilities along the same dimensions of interest in order to assess the degree to which the patterns of