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. 2024 Mar 21;19(3):e0300973.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0300973. eCollection 2024.

Emotion recognition and social functioning in individuals with autism spectrum condition and intellectual disability

Daniela Tamas  1 , Nina Brkic Jovanovic  1 , Stanka Stojkov  1 , Danijela Cvijanović  1 , Bozana Meinhardt-Injac  2
Affiliations

Emotion recognition and social functioning in individuals with autism spectrum condition and intellectual disability

Daniela Tamas et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: Most previous studies have examined emotion recognition in autism spectrum condition (ASC) without intellectual disability (ID). However, ASC and ID co-occur to a high degree. The main aims of the study were to examine emotion recognition in individuals with ASC and co-occurring intellectual disability (ASC-ID) as compared to individuals with ID alone, and to investigate the relationship between emotion recognition and social functioning.

Methods: The sample consisted of 30 adult participants with ASC-ID and a comparison group of 29 participants with ID. Emotion recognition was assessed by the facial emotions test, while. social functioning was assessed by the social responsiveness scale-second edition (SRS-2).

Results: The accuracy of emotion recognition was significantly lower in individuals with ASC-ID compared to the control group with ID, especially when it came to identifying angry and fearful emotions. Participants with ASC-ID exhibited more pronounced difficulties in social functioning compared to those with ID, and there was a significant negative correlation between emotion recognition and social functioning. However, emotion recognition accounted for only 8% of the variability observed in social functioning.

Conclusion: Our data indicate severe difficulties in the social-perceptual domain and in everyday social functioning in individuals with ASC-ID.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Results.
a) Comparison of basic emotion recognition between individuals with Autism Spectrum Condition co-occurring with intellectual disability (ASC-ID) and a control group with intellectual disability only (ID). Individuals with ASC-ID demonstrated lower accuracy in emotion recognition, with statistical significance. b) Comparison of group differences in social functioning. Scores on the SRS-2 scale reflect the severity of social deficits and autistic traits, with higher scores indicating more pronounced difficulties in social functioning.
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