Integrating Identity and Emotion Information in Faces: Capacity Limits of Information Processing in Autism

The ability to combine identity and emotional information when viewing faces allows typically developing individuals to process facial information efficiently. The aim of this study was to examine whether autistic adults share this ability and test if it reflects a broader pattern of integrative information processing. Nineteen autistic adults and nineteen typically developing adults completed a divided-attention task where they had to indicate when a target was present. Each participant completed two separate experiments: (i) the face experiment, which required detecting targets based on identity and emotional expression; and (ii) the object experiment, which required detecting targets based on colour and shape. Analyses assessed whether, and how, participants responded more efficiently in the presence of both targets, compared to either single target. By employing mathematical modelling tools developed in the System Factorial Technology (SFT) framework, results showed that autistic individuals process faces at the rate of typically developing individuals, but failed to exhibit integrative properties (supercapacity) seen in typically developing adults in either domain. In autistic adults, this pattern ranged from limited capacity for faces to capacity consistent with independent parallel processing for objects. Implications of these findings generalise to personalisation practices in education and can be used to inform the development of assistive technologies in autism.