Recognition of Face and Emotional Facial Expressions in Autism

Abstract

Autism is a genetically transferred neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe and permanent deficits in many interpersonal relation areas like communication, social interaction and emotional responsiveness. Patients with autism have deficits in face recognition, eye contact and recognition of emotional expression. Both recognition of face and expression of facial emotion carried on face processing. Structural and functional impairment in fusiform gyrus, amygdala, superior temporal sulcus and other brain regions lead to deficits in recognition of face and facial emotion. Therefore studies suggest that face processing deficits resulted in problems in areas of social interaction and emotion in autism. Studies revealed that children with autism had problems in recognition of facial expression and used mouth region more than eye region. It was also shown that autistic patients interpreted ambiguous expressions as negative emotion. In autism, deficits related in various stages of face processing like detection of gaze, face identity, recognition of emotional expression were determined, so far. Social interaction impairments in autistic spectrum disorders originated from face processing deficits during the periods of infancy, childhood and adolescence. Recognition of face and expression of facial emotion could be affected either automatically by orienting towards faces after birth, or by "learning" processes in developmental periods such as identity and emotion processing. This article aimed to review neurobiological basis of face processing and recognition of emotional facial expressions during normal development and in autism. Keywords:

Keywords

• Autism, face recognition, emotional face expressions, face processing

Otizmde Yüz ve Duyguların Yüz İfadelerini Tanıma

Öz

Otizm, sosyal etkileşim, iletişim ve duygusal karşılıklılık gibi kişilerarası ilişkileri içeren birçok alanda ciddi ve süreğen bozuklukların görüldüğü, genetik temelli nörogelişimsel bir bozukluktur. Otistik bireylerde yüz tanıma, göz göze ilişki kurma, yüzdeki duyguları okuma ve kişilerarası ilişkilerde kusurlar mevcuttur. Yüz tanıma işlemi sırasında yalnızca yüz tanıma işlevi yerine getirilmez, ayrıca yüzdeki duygusal ifadeyi tanıma da gerçekleştirilir. Otizmde fusiform girus, amigdala, üst temporal sulkus ve diğer beyin bölgelerindeki yapısal ve işlevsel sorunların yüz tanıma ve yüzlerden duyguları tanıma gibi becerilerde bozukluklara yol açarak sosyal etkileşim ve duygusal kusurlara neden olduğu belirtilmektedir. Çalışmalarda otistik bireylerin gözlere bakmaktan çok ağız bölgesine baktıkları, yüz ifadelerini tanımakta zorlandıkları bildirilmiştir. Ayrıca otistiklerin muğlak ifadeleri daha çok olumsuz duygu olarak yorumladıkları gösterilmiştir. Otizmde yüz işlemenin birçok aşamasında (bakış yönünü algılama, yüz kimliğini ve duygusal ifadeleri tanıma) kusurlar bulunmaktadır. Otistik spektrum bozukluklarında görülen sosyal iletişim sorunları bebeklik, çocukluk ve ergenlik döneminde yüz işleme işlevindeki kusurlardan kaynaklanabilir. Otizmde yüz tanıma ve duyguları yüz ifadelerinden tanıma becerileri hem doğuştan itibaren var olabilecek (yüze otomatik yönelim) hem de gelişim dönemlerinde öğrenme süreçlerinde (kimlik ve duygu işleme) meydana gelen sorunlardan etkilendiği düşünülmektedir. Bu gözden geçirme yazısında normal gelişim ve otizmde yüz tanıma ve duyguların yüz ifadelerini tanıma becerileri ve nörobiyolojik temelleri incelenecektir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Otizm, yüz tanıma, duygu yüz ifadeleri, yüz işleme

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