Face Recognition and Visual Search Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Amending and Extending a Recent Review by Weigelt et al.

The purpose of this review was to build upon a recent review by Weigelt et al. which examined visual search strategies and face identification between individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and typically developing peers. Seven databases, CINAHL Plus, EMBASE, ERIC, Medline, Proquest, PsychInfo and PubMed were used to locate published scientific studies matching our inclusion criteria. A total of 28 articles not included in Weigelt et al. met criteria for inclusion into this systematic review. Of these 28 studies, 16 were available and met criteria at the time of the previous review, but were mistakenly excluded; and twelve were recently published. Weigelt et al. found quantitative, but not qualitative, differences in face identification in individuals with ASD. In contrast, the current systematic review found both qualitative and quantitative differences in face identification between individuals with and without ASD. There is a large inconsistency in findings across the eye tracking and neurobiological studies reviewed. Recommendations for future research in face recognition in ASD were discussed.

本综述旨在拓展Weigelt等人近期的一项综述研究，该研究探讨了自闭症谱系障碍（Autism Spectrum Disorders, ASD）患者与典型发育同龄人在视觉搜索策略及面部识别方面的差异。本研究共检索了CINAHL Plus、EMBASE、ERIC、Medline、Proquest、PsychInfo及PubMed共7个数据库，以筛选符合纳入标准的已发表科学研究。最终共有28篇未被Weigelt等人纳入的文献符合本次系统综述的纳入标准。在这28篇文献中，16篇在Weigelt等人开展前述综述时已可获取且符合纳入标准，但被错误排除；另有12篇为近年发表的新文献。Weigelt等人的研究仅发现ASD患者在面部识别能力上存在量化差异，未发现质性差异。与之相对，本次系统综述则发现，ASD患者与非患者在面部识别方面同时存在质性与量化差异。本次综述所纳入的眼动追踪与神经生物学研究，其研究结果存在显著的不一致性。本文最后对ASD患者面部识别领域的未来研究方向提出了相关建议。