Exploring social emotion processing in autism: evaluating the reading the mind in the eyes test using network analysis

Abstract

Background: Features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) include difficulties in processing and interpreting socioemotional information. The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test (RMET) is a validated measurement for processing socioemotional ability. However, previous RMET studies did not explore patterns of incorrect answers and the emotional valence of the test items. This study used the Taiwanese version of the RMET and the network analysis methods to examine the differences in underlying mechanisms of socioemotional processes between 30 males with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (mean age = 18 years) and 30 healthy control males (mean age = 17 years). For each test item, a picture of a person's eyes and partial face was shown with four words describing the emotional status on picture corners. Participants were instructed to choose one of the four words that best matched the person's thinking or feeling. We further classified the words into three valences of emotional categories to examine socioemotional processes.

Results: Our results showed that ASD males performed poorer on the RMET than the controls. ASD males had higher network density and in-degree scores, especially in negative words, than control males.

Conclusions: The findings suggest that males with ASD might have deficits in mapping the best emotional concept words to the target item, especially for processing negative emotion.

Keywords: Negative emotion; Network analysis; RMET; Social cognition.

Fig. 1

An example of stimuli in the Eyes task. Four words of descriptions were randomly located in the corners. Participants were instructed to choose which word best matched what the person was thinking or feeling. Choice 1: kind; choice 2: shy; choice 3: not believing, and choice 4: sad. The correct is the choice 3. (Consent from the individual for publication of this image was obtained)

Fig. 2

Response distribution network of the ASD group. Photographical nodes in the network represent the 43 target words; word-form nodes in the network represent the source words; edges between these nodes represent the relationship of participants' choices between target words and source words: The more times that a word was chosen by participants, the thicker the edge. Density is the actual connections divided by potential connections (all possible connections) in network. In the present study, there were 5 possible answers (i.e., 5 nodes) and 10 potential connections for a given item. If no actual connection exits, density is zero; In-degree is an item-based measure that counts connections from all nodes (all possible answers) to a particular node (the correct answer)

Fig. 3

Response distribution network of the control group. The photographical nodes in the network represent the 43 target words; word-form nodes in the network represent the source words; edges between these nodes represent the relationship of participants' choices between target words and source words: The more times that a word is chosen by participants, the thicker the edge. Density is the actual connections divided by all possible connections in the network. In the present study, there were 5 possible answers (i.e., 5 nodes) and 10 potential connections for a given item. If no actual connection exits, density is be zero; In-degree is an item-based measure that counts connections from all nodes (all possible answers) to a particular node (the correct answer)