ArticleMolecular autism2020
Automated recognition of spontaneous facial expression in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: parsing response variability.
Article in Molecular autism, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02299700 (A Study to Preliminarily Assess the Janssen Autism Knowledge Engine in Children and Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Study to Preliminarily Assess the Janssen Autism Knowledge Engine in Children and Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- New Technologies as Promising Tools for Assessing Facial Emotion Expressions Impairments in ASD: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Visual Preference for Biological Motion in Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2021Trial
- Neuroimaging Evidence of Facial Emotion Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Comparing three algorithms of automated facial expression analysis in autistic children: different sensitivities but consistent proportions.Molecular autism · 2025Article
- Moderation Effect of Emotional Expressivity on the Associations Between Schizotypal Traits, Autistic Traits and Social Pleasure.PsyCh journal · 2025Article
- "You should smile more": Population-level sex differences in smiling also exist in autistic people.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Vocal and Facial Behavior During Affect Production in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR · 2025Article
- Analysis of Social Performance and Action Units During Social Skills Training: Focus Group Study of Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- "There is just too much going on there": Nonverbal communication experiences of autistic adults.PloS one · 2025Article
- Identification of smile events using automated facial expression recognition during the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2): a proof-of-principle study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Positive, negative, neutral-or unknown? The perceived valence of emotions expressed by young autistic children in a novel context suited to autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2022Article
- Context Modulates Attention to Faces in Dynamic Social Scenes in Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2022Article
- The Current View on the Paradox of Pain in Autism Spectrum Disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
- Assessing fatigue and sleep in chronic diseases using physiological signals from wearables: A pilot study.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Is Smiling the Key? Machine Learning Analytics Detect Subtle Patterns in Micro-Expressions of Infants with ASD.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundReduction or differences in facial expression are a core diagnostic feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet evidence regarding the extent of this discrepancy is limited and inconsistent. Use of automated facial expression detection technology enables accurate and efficient tracking of facial expressions that has potential to identify individual response differences.
methodsChildren and adults with ASD (N = 124) and typically developing (TD, N = 41) were shown short clips of "funny videos." Using automated facial analysis software, we investigated differences between ASD and TD groups and within the ASD group in evidence of facial action unit (AU) activation related to the expression of positive facial expression, in particular, a smile.
resultsIndividuals with ASD on average showed less evidence of facial AUs (AU12, AU6) relating to positive facial expression, compared to the TD group (p < .05, r = - 0.17). Using Gaussian mixture model for clustering, we identified two distinct distributions within the ASD group, which were then compared to the TD group. One subgroup (n = 35), termed "over-responsive," expressed more intense positive facial expressions in response to the videos than the TD group (p < .001, r = 0.31). The second subgroup (n = 89), ("under-responsive"), displayed fewer, less intense positive facial expressions in response to videos than the TD group (p < .001; r = - 0.36). The over-responsive subgroup differed from the under-responsive subgroup in age and caregiver-reported impulsivity (p < .05, r = 0.21). Reduced expression in the under-responsive, but not the over-responsive group, was related to caregiver-reported social withdrawal (p < .01, r = - 0.3). LIMITATIONS: This exploratory study does not account for multiple comparisons, and future work will have to ascertain the strength and reproducibility of all results. Reduced displays of positive facial expressions do not mean individuals with ASD do not experience positive emotions.
conclusionsIndividuals with ASD differed from the TD group in their facial expressions of positive emotion in response to "funny videos." Identification of subgroups based on response may help in parsing heterogeneity in ASD and enable targeting of treatment based on subtypes.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02299700. Registration date: November 24, 2014.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.