TY - JOUR
T1 - Differences in the link between social trait judgment and socio-emotional experience in neurotypical and autistic individuals
AU - Zhao, Shangcheng
AU - Cao, Runnan
AU - Lin, Chujun
AU - Wang, Shuo
AU - Yu, Hongbo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/12
Y1 - 2024/12
N2 - Neurotypical (NT) individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make different judgments of social traits from others’ faces; they also exhibit different social emotional responses in social interactions. A common hypothesis is that the differences in face perception in ASD compared with NT is related to distinct social behaviors. To test this hypothesis, we combined a face trait judgment task with a novel interpersonal transgression task that induces measures social emotions and behaviors. ASD and neurotypical participants viewed a large set of naturalistic facial stimuli while judging them on a comprehensive set of social traits (e.g., warm, charismatic, critical). They also completed an interpersonal transgression task where their responsibility in causing an unpleasant outcome to a social partner was manipulated. The purpose of the latter task was to measure participants’ emotional (e.g., guilt) and behavioral (e.g., compensation) responses to interpersonal transgression. We found that, compared with neurotypical participants, ASD participants’ self-reported guilt and compensation tendency was less sensitive to our responsibility manipulation. Importantly, ASD participants and neurotypical participants showed distinct associations between self-reported guilt and judgments of criticalness from others' faces. These findings reveal a novel link between perception of social traits and social emotional responses in ASD.
AB - Neurotypical (NT) individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make different judgments of social traits from others’ faces; they also exhibit different social emotional responses in social interactions. A common hypothesis is that the differences in face perception in ASD compared with NT is related to distinct social behaviors. To test this hypothesis, we combined a face trait judgment task with a novel interpersonal transgression task that induces measures social emotions and behaviors. ASD and neurotypical participants viewed a large set of naturalistic facial stimuli while judging them on a comprehensive set of social traits (e.g., warm, charismatic, critical). They also completed an interpersonal transgression task where their responsibility in causing an unpleasant outcome to a social partner was manipulated. The purpose of the latter task was to measure participants’ emotional (e.g., guilt) and behavioral (e.g., compensation) responses to interpersonal transgression. We found that, compared with neurotypical participants, ASD participants’ self-reported guilt and compensation tendency was less sensitive to our responsibility manipulation. Importantly, ASD participants and neurotypical participants showed distinct associations between self-reported guilt and judgments of criticalness from others' faces. These findings reveal a novel link between perception of social traits and social emotional responses in ASD.
KW - Guilt
KW - Interpersonal transgression
KW - Responsibility
KW - Social trait perception
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186944950&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-024-56005-5
DO - 10.1038/s41598-024-56005-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 38443486
AN - SCOPUS:85186944950
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 14
JO - Scientific reports
JF - Scientific reports
IS - 1
M1 - 5400
ER -