The relations between processing style, autistic-like traits, and emotion recognition in individuals with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

Having a more local processing style may contribute to the difficulties that some people with developmental disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), experience with emotion recognition (ER). This study explored whether autistic-like traits (ALT), as measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and a more local processing bias predicted performance on an ER task. The study was a cross-sectional study of individuals who self-reported diagnosis of ASD (n = 40) and typically developing (TD) participants (n = 216). Participants completed the AQ, an ER naming task using static coloured images of people, and two processing style tasks (a Navon type task and a false memory recall task using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm). No significant relationships were found between processing style, ER, and ALT. Higher general ALT scores were significantly associated with poorer general ER. The implications of the results for interventions to improve ER in people with ASD are discussed.