Face Individual Identity Recognition: A Potential Endophenotype in Autism

Overview

• Research Article
• Published: 21 October 2020
• Journal: Molecular Autism, Volume 11, Article 81
• Authors: Ilaria Minio-Paluello, Giuseppina Porciello, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Simon Baron-Cohen

Abstract

Background

• Face identity recognition is heritable and independent of intellectual ability.
• Autism and family members often exhibit face recognition difficulties.
• Autism might be linked to oxytocin polymorphisms in affected families.
• No prevalence estimate of developmental prosopagnosia (DP) in autism.
• Lack of within-group studies in autism to explore face memory and social communication links.

Methods

• Examined 80 autistic adults without intellectual disability.
• Investigated prosopagnosia prevalence and its cognitive characteristics.
• Linked face memory to autism symptom severity, personality traits, and eye-region mental state understanding.

Results

• Over one-third of autistic participants showed prosopagnosia.
• Face memory not linked to symptoms severity, empathy, or intelligence.
• Face identity recognition correlated with eye-region mental state recognition only in prosopagnosic autistic individuals.

Conclusions

• Impaired face identity recognition may be an autism endophenotype.
• Testing face memory could stratify autistic individuals into genetically relevant subgroups.

Introduction

• Autism is highly heritable, featuring social and communication difficulties.
• Clinical and genetic heterogeneity complicate autism intervention development.
• Face identity recognition could serve as an autism endophenotype.
• Humans predominantly recognize faces, a skill associated with the oxytocin system.
• Prosopagnosia affects 23% of the general population and is likely polygenic.

Methods

Participants

• 80 autistic adults, 80 neurotypical controls matched by age and country.
• Autism diagnosis confirmed via DSM-IV and ADOS.
• Tests conducted included CFMT, CFPT, and RMET among others.

Tests

Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT)

• Used to measure face memory ability.
• Participants identify individuals from memorized faces with increasing difficulty.

Cambridge Face Perception Test (CFPT)

• Measures face perception ability without memory demands.
• Involves sorting faces by similarity to a target face.

Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)

• Assesses mental state recognition from eye photographs.

Results

• Prosopagnosia found in 36% of autistic participants.
• No significant IQ correlation with face memory in autistic individuals.
• Face identity recognition linked to mental state understanding only in prosopagnosic autistic individuals.

Discussion

• Prosopagnosia may not be directly on the autism causal pathway but contributes to genetic background.
• Relationship between face recognition and mental state understanding confirms potential subgroup stratification.
• Future studies could explore oxytocin's role in face memory in autism.

Limitations

• Not based on an epidemiological sample.
• Results may not generalize across the autism spectrum.

Future Directions

• Investigate oxytocin's effect on face memory in autism.
• Explore face memory as a stratifying tool in autism research.

Author Contributions

• Study designed and data collected by Ilaria Minio-Paluello.
• Data analysis and manuscript writing by Giuseppina Porciello.
• Supervision and manuscript contribution by Alvaro Pascual-Leone and Simon Baron-Cohen.

Funding

• Supported by the USA-Italy Fulbright Commission, Italian Ministry of Health, and NIH among others.

These notes provide a comprehensive overview of the study conducted on face individual identity recognition as a potential endophenotype in autism. The research highlights significant findings and suggests future research directions, emphasizing the role of genetic and cognitive factors in autism.