Luo Qiyun, Zeng Xiaoyan, Chen Fei, Kuang Chen
School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, South Lushan Road, Yuelu District, Changsha, 410082, China.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Apr 14. doi: 10.1007/s10803-025-06833-9.
Emotional prosody recognition is vital for social interaction and has become a key focus in autism research. However, findings regarding emotional prosody recognition in individuals with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual disability (ASD-without-ID) remain inconsistent. This study aims to address this inconsistency through a systematic review and meta-analysis, exploring potential factors that may account for the inconsistent results. A search across four major electronic databases identified 29 eligible studies comparing emotional prosody recognition in ASD-without-ID and typically developing (TD) participants. We identified several participant- and methodology-related moderators across these studies. Using a random-effects model, we found a moderate-to-large pooled effect (Hedges' g = - 0.65) for emotional prosody recognition in ASD-without-ID participants, which remained stable after adjusting for publication bias through the trim-and-fill method. Emotional complexity and participant age significantly moderated the heterogeneity of effect sizes across studies. The results indicate moderate differences in the recognition of basic emotions through prosody between individuals with ASD-without-ID and TD individuals, with more pronounced differences for complex emotions. The findings emphasize the distinct developmental trajectories of ASD-without-ID individuals. We highlight the need for further investigation into the underlying factors and mechanisms affecting emotional prosody recognition in this population, including meta-analyses examining the moderate effects of various IQ measures and studies involving speakers of tonal languages.
情感韵律识别对社交互动至关重要，已成为自闭症研究的一个关键焦点。然而，关于无智力障碍的自闭症谱系障碍个体（ASD-without-ID）的情感韵律识别研究结果仍不一致。本研究旨在通过系统综述和荟萃分析来解决这一不一致性问题，探索可能导致结果不一致的潜在因素。通过对四个主要电子数据库进行检索，确定了29项符合条件的研究，这些研究比较了ASD-without-ID个体和发育正常（TD）参与者的情感韵律识别情况。我们在这些研究中确定了几个与参与者和方法相关的调节因素。使用随机效应模型，我们发现ASD-without-ID参与者在情感韵律识别方面存在中度到较大的合并效应（Hedges' g = -0.65），通过修剪填充法调整发表偏倚后该效应保持稳定。情感复杂性和参与者年龄显著调节了各研究间效应量的异质性。结果表明，ASD-without-ID个体和TD个体在通过韵律识别基本情绪方面存在中度差异，在识别复杂情绪方面差异更为明显。这些发现强调了ASD-without-ID个体独特的发展轨迹。我们强调需要进一步研究影响该人群情感韵律识别的潜在因素和机制，包括对各种智商测量的中度效应进行荟萃分析以及涉及声调语言使用者的研究。
