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Emotion Recognition Performance in Children with Callous Unemotional Traits is Modulated by Co-occurring Autistic
Rachael Bedford1,2, Virginia Carter Leno3, Nicola Wright1,3,4
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London.
Summary
Children with high callous unemotional (CU) traits show emotion recognition (ER) difficulties with static faces, but not dynamic ones. Autistic traits appear to explain some of the link between CU traits and ER challenges.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Psychiatry
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Atypical emotion recognition (ER) is linked to high callous unemotional (CU) traits in children.
- Previous research indicates ER difficulties with static facial expressions in youth with CU traits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To replicate findings on ER difficulties for static faces in relation to CU traits.
- To investigate if ER deficits persist with dynamic stimuli.
- To examine the moderating role of eye-gaze and the impact of autistic traits on the CU-ER association.
Main Methods:
- 292 seven-year-olds completed static and dynamic ER eye-tracking tasks.
- Parent-reported CU and autistic traits were assessed.
- Accuracy, reaction time, and eye-gaze to facial features were recorded.
Main Results:
- Higher CU traits correlated with poorer ER for static, but not dynamic, expressions.
- Autistic traits were associated with ER difficulties across both static and dynamic stimuli.
- The CU trait-ER link for static faces became non-significant after accounting for autistic traits.
Conclusions:
- Motion cues in dynamic stimuli may aid ER, explaining the lack of association with CU traits.
- Co-occurring autistic traits partially mediate the relationship between CU traits and ER deficits.
- Further research is needed to clarify the overlapping cognitive phenotypes.
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