At the FACELab, we are looking at how individuals on the autism spectrum produce and process facial expressions and prosody (tone of voice) during verbal interactions. By identifying how children with ASD differ from typically developing children in this category, we hope to improve the treatment, therapy, and social skills of individuals with autism. Infared motion capture allows us to analyze th
e movement of various parts of the face as the child mimics the expressions of others or engages in a conversation. We also use eye-tracking to determine how children with and without autism scan faces for social cues. Since many individuals with autism experience social anxiety, we monitor heart rate, skin conductance and breathing during several parts of the study. In order to ground our quantitative data in real-world perception of individuals of autism, we also use qualitative ratings of the social ability of children with and without autism. We hope to use all this technology to develop real knowledge that can help individuals avoid some of the negative consequences of autism spectrum disorder. We greatly appreciate all the families and participants that make this work possible - we couldn't do it without you!
