Impaired Affect Perception in Presence of Spared Electrodermal Activity with Affective Stimuli Among Children with...

The aim of this study was to compare children with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) and matched controls in terms of nonverbal communication skills, understanding of emotions, electrodermal activity (EDA) changes and response latencies measured with affective stimuli.

The study was designed as a single-center, cross-sectional, controlled study. KA-SI Empathic Tendency Scale-Child Form, Test of Perception of Affect-Via Nonverbal Cues (TPANC) were used for both groups. The TPANC test was performed in 4 different sessions (for picture, video, audio and textual stimuli), and during each session, the EDA was measured from the non-dominant hand. Stimuli were given at 15 second intervals in the tests and phasic changes within 3-8 seconds after the stimulus was accepted as skin conductance responses related to the stimulus in accordance with the literature. The responses and response latency during the TPANC test were recorded by the clinician.

31 children with SLD and 31 healthy controls were included in the study. The mean ages for SLD and controls were 10 years 6 months and 10 years 1 month; respectively. In the SLD group, the number of correct responses in all subtests of TPANC was statistically significantly lower than controls (p<0.05). When TPANC subtests response latencies were compared, there was a significant increase in the SLD group compared to controls (p<0.05). The groups did not display a significant difference in EDA changes while providing responses in TPANC.

Our results contribute to the literature on the affect recognition and its autonomic correlates among children with SLD. However, dependence on a single-modality for autonomic nervous system reactivity and limited sample size may affect our results and further studies with larger samples employing multiple domains of autonomic reactivity may be needed.