Emotional language processing in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics

Background:

• Early Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) descriptions highlighted emotional deficits.
• Research on ASD emotions primarily focused on visual processing (faces, body language).
• Emotional language processing in ASD remains under-explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review impairments in emotional language processing in individuals with ASD.
• To investigate how emotions are processed outside the visual domain in ASD.
• To clarify the nature and extent of emotional language difficulties in ASD.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of PubMed (1990-2013).
• Inclusion of studies using standardized search terms related to ASD and emotional language.
• Analysis of findings on emotional language stimulus classification, attention, memory, and neural activity.

Main Results:

• Individuals with ASD can correctly classify emotional language valence (positive/negative).
• Emotional language processing in ASD is linked to atypical attention, memory, and neural/physiological responses.
• Younger children with ASD struggle with emotional concept acquisition and use in discourse.
• These impairments were not consistently tied to age, IQ, or language development.

Conclusions:

• Emotional language impairments in ASD are evident despite intact valence classification.
• Difficulties in emotional concept development and usage are significant in ASD.
• Emotional deficits in ASD may be broader than previously assumed and not solely a consequence of social impairments.
• Further research is needed to address emotional language processing in ASD comprehensively.