TITLE:
“Please Draw Me a Face…” Atypical Face Mental Concept in Autism
AUTHORS:
Emilie Meaux, David Bakhos, Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault, Patrice Gillet, Emmanuel Lescanne, Catherine Barthélémy, Magali Batty
KEYWORDS:
Autism, Face Representation, Drawing, Sensory Abnormalities, Cognitive Style
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.11,
August
25,
2014
ABSTRACT:
Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental
disorder characterized by early manifestations of social difficulties and
atypical sensory-based behaviors. As faces are essential for social
interaction, they have been widely investigated in autism, revealing
disruptions in face processing. Cognitive theories argue that people with
autism process the world differently, showing a processing bias for local
information. However, the literature currently neglects the mental
representation of faces, or face concept, in people with ASD. The current study
sought to establish how young children with ASD “see” a human face. A key
question is whether this face concept is a function of cognitive style and/or
sensory impairment. By comparing simple face drawings in young children with
ASD, with those of deaf children and controls, we highlight an atypical face
concept in ASD that does not show, however, global processing deficits: face
drawing presents a preserved overall configuration. The atypical face drawings
in children with ASD showed similarities with those of deaf children: eyes were
not an essential feature, whereas a marked interest for ears and non-facial
external features (accessories, body parts) was shown. These findings suggest
that the face mental concept in ASD may be impacted by sensory processing
deficits.