12023
document
The development and evaluation of a computer-based program to test and to teach the recognition of facial affect . Autism is a chronic pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the early onset of social and communicative impairments as well as restricted , ritualized , stereotypic behavior . The endophenotype of autism includes neuropsychological deficits , for instance a lack of " Theory of Mind " and problems recognizing facial affect . In this study , we report the development and evaluation of a computer-based program to teach and test the ability to identify basic facially expressed emotions . 10 adolescent or adult subjects with high-functioning autism or Asperger-syndrome were included in the investigation . A priori the facial affect recognition test had shown good psychometric properties in a normative sample ( internal consistency : rtt=.91-.95 ; retest reliability : rtt=.89-.92 ) . In a prepost design , one half of the sample was randomly assigned to receive computer treatment while the other half of the sample served as control group . The training was conducted for five weeks , consisting of two hours training a week . The trained individuals improved significantly on the affect recognition task , but not on any other measure . Results support the usefulness of the program to teach the detection of facial affect . However , the improvement found is limited to a circumscribed area of social-communicative function and generalization is not ensured .
12024
Intervention_Educational
computer-based program
12025
Intervention_Educational
computer-based program
12026
Intervention_Educational
computer treatment
12027
Outcome_Mental
facial affect .
12028
Outcome_Mental
basic facially expressed emotions
12029
Outcome_Mental
affect recognition task
12030
Outcome_Mental
teach the detection of facial affect
12031
Outcome_Other
.
12032
Participant_Sample-size
10
12033
Participant_Age
adolescent
12034
Participant_Age
adult
12035
Participant_Condition
high-functioning autism or Asperger-syndrome