Emotion Recognition in Autism

Emotion Recognition in Children with Autism Numerous of studies have been conducted with Autism Spectrum disorder, probably the most common research conducted with autism is emotion recognition. Most autistic individuals, especially children, have trouble recognizing others’ emotions. Most of these researches that have been conducted have used the six basic emotions. The research article I chose “The ‘Reading the Mind in Films’ Task: Complex Emotion and Mental State Recognition in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Conditions”, researches into emotion recognition of complex emotions and mental states. Researches predicted that children with autism will have difficulty recognizing complex emotions and mental states in social contexts, compared to children without autism (Golan O., Baron-Cohen S., Golan Y., 2008). Researchers also wanted to look into why autistic individuals have difficulty with this, and two theories were predicted; the weak central coherence theory and the mind-blindness/empathy theory. The weak central coherence theory suggests autistic individuals have a particular perceptual-cognitive processing style, which is a limited ability to understand or interpret the full context (Baron-Cohen S., 1989). Natasja van Lang (2003) explains how some people diagnosed with autism can show remarkable ability in subjects like math and engineering, yet have trouble with language skills and tend to live in an isolated social world. This is because autistic individuals do not see or interpret the whole picture, they are perceiving and taking in each detail. Uta Frith, a leading developmental psychologist, did more in depth research with weak central coherence theory; she hypothesized that children with autism actually perceive details better than normal people (Baron-Cohen S., 1989). My autistic brother Michael, really enjoys watching television, and one of his favorite shows use to be Spongebob Squarepants. He watched so many episodes numerous of