Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Int J Eat Disord. 2019 Jun;52(6):691-700. doi: 10.1002/eat.23066. Epub 2019 Mar 4.
To examine Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) and visual scanning behavior (eye-tracking) during FER in women long-term recovered from teenage-onset anorexia nervosa (recAN) with and without autism spectrum disorder (±ASD) and age-matched comparison women (COMP), using a sensitive design with facial emotion expressions at varying intensities in order to approximate real social contexts.
Fifty-seven 38-47-year-old women (26 recAN of whom six with ASD, 31 COMP) participated in the study. They completed a non-verbal FER task, consisting of matching basic emotions at different levels of expression intensity with full emotional expressions. Accuracy, response time and visual scanning behavior were measured.
There were no differences between recAN-ASD and COMP in FER accuracy and visual scanning behavior during FER, including eye viewing and hyperscanning. In an exploratory analysis, recAN+ASD were more accurate than recAN-ASD in identifying expressions at low intensity, but not at medium or high expression intensity. Accuracy was not associated with the extent of attention to the eye region.
Our data indicate that women long-term recovered from adolescent-onset AN do not have deficits in basic FER ability and visual scanning behavior during FER. However, the presence of comorbid ASD might affect face processing in recovered AN. Future studies investigating basic FER in acute and recovered AN and other conditions need to ensure that the stimuli used are sensitive enough to detect potential deficits.
使用敏感设计，用不同强度的面部表情来模拟真实的社交情境，研究青少年起病的神经性厌食症（recAN）长期康复女性（有无自闭症谱系障碍[±ASD]）与年龄匹配的对照组（COMP）在面部表情识别（FER）期间的情绪识别（FER）和视觉扫描行为（眼动追踪）。
57 名 38-47 岁的女性（26 名 recAN，其中 6 名患有 ASD，31 名 COMP）参与了研究。她们完成了一项非言语 FER 任务，包括将不同表达强度的基本情绪与全表情相匹配。测量了准确性、反应时间和视觉扫描行为。
recAN-ASD 与 COMP 在 FER 准确性和 FER 期间的视觉扫描行为方面没有差异，包括眼睛注视和超扫描。在一项探索性分析中，recAN+ASD 在识别低强度表情时比 recAN-ASD 更准确，但在中高强度表情识别中没有差异。准确性与对眼部区域的关注程度无关。
我们的数据表明，青少年起病的 AN 长期康复女性在基本 FER 能力和 FER 期间的视觉扫描行为方面没有缺陷。然而，共患 ASD 的存在可能会影响恢复后的 AN 的面部处理。未来研究需要确保所使用的刺激物足够敏感，以检测出潜在的缺陷，以调查急性和恢复期 AN 及其他疾病中的基本 FER。
