Reevaluating the selectivity of face-processing difficulties in children and adolescents with autism
Abstract
There are few direct examinations of whether face-processing difficulties in autism are disproportionate to difficulties with other complex non-face stimuli. Here we examined discrimination ability and memory for faces, cars, and inverted faces in children and adolescents with and without autism. Results showed that, relative to typical children, the difficulties of children and adolescents with autism were not limited to, or disproportionately severe for, faces. Rather, these participants demonstrated significant difficulties in remembering and discriminating between faces and cars. This lack of face selectivity is inconsistent with prominent theories that attribute face-processing difficulties in autism to fundamental problems with social motivation or social attention. Instead, our results are consistent with a more pervasive perceptual atypicality that may affect autistic processing of non-face stimuli as well as face stimuli.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Atypical face processing in ASD could arise from sociocognitive factors or reflect visual processing deficits more broadly.
“Atypical face processing in ASD could arise from sociocognitive factors, or reflect visual processing deficits more broadly, such as distinguishing between both social and non-social stimuli that are visually complex or highly similar, including upright faces, inverted faces, and cars (Ewing et al., 2013); and poor ability to discriminate between novel, and perceptually similar objects (Greebles)”
From The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (2018) · cites this paper as Ewing et al., 2013
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,841 · see citing works
Discovering Statistics Using SPSS
Field, A. P., & Miles, J. N. V. (2000) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 28,268 · see citing works
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., Pickles, A., & Rutter, M. (2000) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1005592401947 · Cited by 7,520 · see citing works
The weak coherence account: detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders
Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0 · Cited by 2,884 · see citing works
Parts and Wholes in Face Recognition
Tanaka, J. W., & Farah, M. J. (1993) · The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A · doi:10.1080/14640749308401045 · Cited by 2,179 · see citing works
The many faces of configural processing
Maurer, D. M., Grand, R. L., & Mondloch, C. J. (2002) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(02)01903-4 · Cited by 2,114 · see citing works
The social motivation theory of autism
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.02.007 · Cited by 2,072 · see citing works
Enhanced Perceptual Functioning in Autism: An Update, and Eight Principles of Autistic Perception
Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulières, I., Hubert, B., & Burack, J. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0040-7 · Cited by 1,957 · see citing works
Behavioral manifestations of autism in the first year of life
Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Rogers, T., Roberts, W., Brian, J., & Szatmari, P. (2005) · International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2004.05.001 · Cited by 1,602 · see citing works
Why faces are and are not special: An effect of expertise.
Diamond, R., & Carey, S. E. (1986) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037//0096-3445.115.2.107 · Cited by 1,584 · see citing works
Autism: beyond “theory of mind”
Frith, U., & Happé, F. (1994) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90024-8 · Cited by 1,450 · see citing works
Why faces are and are not special: An effect of expertise.
Diamond, R., & Carey, S. E. (1986) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.115.2.107 · Cited by 1,309 · see citing works
Dawson, G., Webb, S. J., & McPartland, J. (2005) · Developmental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1207/s15326942dn2703_6 · Cited by 989 · see citing works
Macmillan, N. A., & Kaplan, H. L. (1985) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.98.1.185 · Cited by 556 · see citing works
Face identity recognition in autism spectrum disorders: A review of behavioral studies
Weigelt, S., Koldewyn, K., & Kanwisher, N. (2011) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.12.008 · Cited by 487 · see citing works
Seeing it differently: visual processing in autism
BEHRMANN, M., THOMAS, C., & HUMPHREYS, K. (2006) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2006.05.001 · Cited by 469 · see citing works
What's in a face? The case of autism
Hobson, R. P., Ouston, J., & Lee, A. L. (1988) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1988.tb02745.x · Cited by 452 · see citing works
How Does the Brain Process Upright and Inverted Faces?
Rossion, B., & Gauthier, L. (2002) · Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews · doi:10.1177/1534582302001001004 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Grelotti, D. J., Gauthier, L., & Schultz, R. T. (2002) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.10028 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Psychology
(2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376746.001.0001 · Cited by 378 · see citing works
Unfamiliar Face Recognition in Relatively Able Autistic Children
Boucher, J., & LEWIS, V. A. (1992) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1992.tb01960.x · Cited by 363 · see citing works
Face Perception in Children with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome
Davies, S., Bishop, D., Manstead, A. S. R., & Tantam, D. (1994) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01808.x · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Sasson, N. J., Turner‐Brown, L. M., Holtzclaw, T. N., Lam, K. S. L., & Bodfish, J. W. (2008) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.4 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
Impaired face processing in autism: Fact or artifact?
Jemel, B., Mottron, L., & Dawson, M. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0050-5 · Cited by 246 · see citing works
Defining the cognitive phenotype of autism
Charman, T., Jones, C. R. G., Pickles, A., Simonoff, E., Baird, G., & Happé, F. (2011) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2010.10.075 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
The Development of Face Processing in Autism
Sasson, N. J. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0076-3 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Holistic Processing of Faces in Preschool Children and Adults
Pellicano, E., & Rhodes, G. (2003) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1046/j.0956-7976.2003.psci_1474.x · Cited by 184 · see citing works
LAHAIE, A., Mottron, L., Arguin, M., Berthiaume, C., Jemel, B., & Saumier, D. (2006) · Neuropsychology · doi:10.1037/0894-4105.20.1.30 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Patterns of Visual Attention to Faces and Objects in Autism Spectrum Disorder
McPartland, J. C., Webb, S. J., Keehn, B., & Dawson, G. (2010) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1033-8 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Memory for Faces in Children with Autism
Hauck, M., FEIN, D. A., Maltby, N., Waterhouse, L. H., & Feinstein, C. (1998) · Child Neuropsychology · doi:10.1076/chin.4.3.187.3174 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Wolf, J. M., Tanaka, J. W., Klaiman, C., Cockburn, J., Herlihy, L. E., Brown, C., South, M., McPartland, J. C., Kaiser, M. D., Phillips, R., et al. (2008) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.56 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Fractionation of visual memory: agency detection and its impairment in autism
Blair, R. (2002) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/s0028-3932(01)00069-0 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Face processing in autistics: Evidence for a generalised deficit?
Gepner, B., de Gelder, B., & de Schonen, S. (1996) · Child Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/09297049608401357 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Cassia, V. M., Picozzi, M., Kuefner, D., Bricolo, E., & Turati, C. (2008) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00765.x · Cited by 109 · see citing works
The development of face processing
Schwarzer, G., & Leder, H. (2003) · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Riby, D. M., Doherty‐Sneddon, G., & Bruce, V. (2008) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470210701855629 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Face and object processing in autism spectrum disorders
Wallace, S., Coleman, M., & Bailey, A. J. (2008) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.7 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Attention to social stimuli and facial identity recognition skills in autism spectrum disorder
Wilson, C., Brock, J., & Palermo, R. (2010) · Journal of Intellectual Disability Research · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01340.x · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Atypical development of face and greeble recognition in autism
Suzanne Scherf, K., Behrmann, M., Minshew, N., & Luna, B. (2008) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01903.x · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Orientation and Affective Expression Effects on Face Recognition in Williams Syndrome and Autism
Rose, F. E., Lincoln, A. J., Lai, Z. C., Ene, M., Searcy, Y. M., & Bellugi, U. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0200-4 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
The effect of inversion on 3- to 5-year-olds’ recognition of face and nonface visual objects
Picozzi, M., Cassia, V. M., Turati, C., & Vescovo, E. (2008) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.11.001 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Pellicano, E. (2012) · American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-117.2.156 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Glasson, E. J., MacDermott, S., Dixon, G., Cook, H., Chauvel, P., Maley, A., & Wray, J. A. (2008) · The Medical Journal of Australia · doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01623.x · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Faja, S., Webb, S. J., Merkle, K. L., Aylward, E., & Dawson, G. (2008) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0635-x · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Kuusikko‐Gauffin, S., Eira, J.-V., Carter, A. S., Rachel, P.-W., Jussila, K. K., Mattila, M., Rahko, J. S., Hanna, E., Pauls, D., & Moilanen, I. K. (2010) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2010.07.007 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Webb, S. J., Faja, S., & Dawson, G. (2011) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199559053.013.0043 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Rhodes, G. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376746.013.0004 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder
Thye, M. D., Bednarz, H. M., Herringshaw, A. J., Sartin, E. B., & Kana, R. K. (2018) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2017.04.010 · Cited by 513 · see citing works
“…distinguishing between both social and non-social stimuli that are visually complex or highly similar, including upright faces, inverted faces, and cars (Ewing et al., 2013); and poor ability to discriminate between novel, and perceptually similar objects (Greebles) and faces (Scherf et al., 2008).”
A quantitative meta-analysis of face recognition deficits in autism: 40 years of research.
Griffin, J. W., Bauer, R. M., & Scherf, K. S. (2020) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000310 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Anomalous Perception of Biological Motion in Autism: A Conceptual Review and Meta-Analysis
Federici, A., Parma, V., Vicovaro, M., Radassao, L., Casartelli, L., & Ronconi, L. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61252-3 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
“…such as visual attention (Gammer et al., 2015; Keehn et al., 2013; Robertson et al., 2013; Ronconi et al., 2018c, 2018b, 2013), visual perception (Ewing et al., 2013; Foss-Feig et al., 2013; Kröger et al., 2014; Vlamings et al., 2010), motor cognition (Ansuini et al., 2018; Becchio et al., 2007;…”
Koldewyn, K., Yendiki, A., Weigelt, S., Hyowon Gweon, C., Julian, J. B., Richardson, H., Malloy, C., Saxe, R. R., Fischl, B. R., & Kanwisher, N. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1324037111 · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Tang, J. S. Y., Falkmer, M., Horlin, C., Tan, T., Vaz, S. M. A., & Falkmer, T. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134439 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
“[31] investigated facial discrimination using inversion effects.”
BackgroundFace Recognition Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Are Both Domain Specific and Process Specific
Weigelt, S., Koldewyn, K., & Kanwisher, N. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074541 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Social orienting and social seeking behaviors in ASD. A meta analytic investigation
Hedger, N., Dubey, I., & Chakrabarti, B. (2020) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.10.003 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Atypical updating of face representations with experience in children with autism
Ewing, L., Pellicano, E., & Rhodes, G. (2012) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/desc.12007 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Using Effort to Measure Reward Value of Faces in Children with Autism
Ewing, L., Pellicano, E., & Rhodes, G. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079493 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“, [26]), served as a nonsocial, second perceptually homogeneous category of comparison stimuli.”
BackgroundEwbank, M. P., Rhodes, G., von dem Hagen, E. A. H., Powell, T. E., Bright, N., Stoyanova, R. S., Baron-Cohen, S., & Calder, A. J. (2015) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu149 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
“However, a recent study found that children with ASC, who show smaller face distortion aftereffects than typical children, do not show reduced aftereffects for nonsocial stimuli, such as cars (Ewing et al. 2013a)).”
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Hoehl, S. (2017) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118554470.ch8 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Ronconi, L., Molteni, M., & Casartelli, L. (2016) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00144 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Liu, J., Chen, L., Chang, H., Rudoler, J., Al-Zughoul, A. B., Kang, J. B., Abrams, D. A., & Menon, V. (2023) · Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2023.05.002 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Griffin, J. W., Azu, M. A., Cramer-Benjamin, S., Franke, C. J., Herman, N. M., Iqbal, R., Keifer, C. M., Rosenthal, L. H., & McPartland, J. C. (2023) · JAMA Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.2105 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Reputation Management in Children on the Autism Spectrum
Cage, E., Bird, G., & Pellicano, E. (2016) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2923-1 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“These results indicate that autistic children can be socially motivated, supporting other research that suggests that this is the case (Calder et al. 2013; Deckers et al. 2014; Ewing et al. 2013; Locke et al. 2010).”
BackgroundResultChildhood Facial Recognition Predicts Adolescent Symptom Severity in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Eussen, M. L. J. M., Louwerse, A., Herba, C. M., Van Gool, A. R., Verheij, F., Verhulst, F. C., & Greaves‐Lord, K. (2015) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1443 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“…with theories suggesting that the underlying mechanisms of ASD are specific to social information processing [e.g., Chevallier et al., 2012; Dawson et al., 2005b; Klin et al., 2005; Weigelt et al., 2013] and oppose more general perceptual processing difficulties in ASD [e.g., Ewing et al., 2013].”
InfluentialHigh-precision visual long-term memory in children with high-functioning autism.
Jiang, Y. V., Palm, B. E., DeBolt, M. C., & Goh, Y. S. (2014) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000022 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“In other studies, the face recognition deficit was significant but small (e.g., Blair et al., 2002; Ewing et al., 2013), and still other studies did not find consistent face recognition impairments (for a review, see Jemel, Mottron, & Dawson, 2006).”
BackgroundResultCasartelli, L., Riva, M., Villa, L. M., & Borgatti, R. (2018) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.09.017 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Ipser, A., Ring, M., Murphy, J., Gaigg, S., & Cook, R. (2016) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.03.017 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Korhonen, V. O., Kärnä, E., & Räty, H. (2014) · Nordic Psychology · doi:10.1080/19012276.2014.921577 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Mechanisms of social influence : reputation management in typical and autistic individuals
Cage, E. (2015) · IOE EPrints · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Autistic traits and anthropomorphism: the case of vehicle fascia perception
Forby, L., Pazhoohi, F., & Kingstone, A. (2024) · Cognitive Processing · doi:10.1007/s10339-024-01187-z · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“For example, Weigelt et al. (2013) reported that autistic individuals’ performance in tasks involving memory and perception of cars is similar to that of controls (but see Ewing et al. 2013a .”
Autism Spectrum Disorder and Face Identity Recognition Deficit across Ages
Song, Y. (2023) · Graduate Student Journal of Psychology · doi:10.52214/gsjp.v20i1.10622 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Teplin, S. W., Macias, M. M., Mansoor, E., & Murray, K. E. (2009) · Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics · doi:10.1097/dbp.0b013e31819cf544
Teplin, S. W., Moore, R. M., Murray, K. E., & Nyp, S. S. (2013) · Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics · doi:10.1097/dbp.0b013e3182a62e02
Constantinou, M., Al‐Thani, D., Qaraqe, M., & Yankouskaya, A. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-7612091/v1
- Authors
- Ewing, L., Pellicano, E., & Rhodes, G.
- Affiliations
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Ewing, Louise
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-06
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 342-355
- ISSN
- 0022-0965 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2067791528
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 2.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, face processing, face selectivity, face discrimination, face memory, inverted faces, social motivation, social attention, children and adolescents
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Autistic Disorder, Child, Discrimination, Psychological, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Case-Control Studies, Recognition, Psychology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
