Article summary with Awareness of Single and Multiple Emotions in High-functioningChildren with Autism by Rieffe a.o. - 2007

Why does this study focus on the awareness of personal emotions of children with autism?

Many research has shown that children from the autistic spectrum experience more difficulties in understanding the emotions of others. They have a dysfunctional Theory of mind, which makes it more difficult for them to read others. However, there is not much information about how aware of their own emotions children from the autistic spectrum are. A dysfunctional theory of mind might lead to difficulties on this aspect as well. This research aims to fill this gap.

How do children with autism perceive emotions?

Different than often thought, children with autism do not experience less emotions than normal children. However, experiencing emotions does not imply they are also aware of these emotions. Children with autism are more likely to exhibit emotions to non-living objects. This may lead them to communicate less about their emotions.

As children grow older, they learn to monitor their emotions by describing and naming them. Emotions are then regarded as internal processes that relate us to the outside world. However, without a functional theory of mind, children with autism might not develop this understanding. A theory of mind allows people to make a personal representation of the outside world. This personal representation makes us understand that we are afraid of the dog. Without this representation, it is the dog that is scary. This seems like a subtle difference, but has major implications for the regulation of emotions.

Which method was used to investigate the way children with autism describe emotion evoking situations?

The goal of this study was to examine the ability of high functioning children with autism to describe emotion evoking situations they have experienced. The expectation was that there would be no difference between children with autism and normal children regarding their ability to describe situations in which the basic four emotions were experienced. For this study, 22 children with autism and 22 normal developing children participated. These children had to answer questions about their feelings, using a 5-point scale. Second, the researchers described an imaginary situation to the children and asked them to describe how they would feel in the situation. The children could describe the emotion either verbally, or by pointing at a drawing representing the emotion. Finally, the children were asked to indicate the intensity of the emotions they experienced.

How do children with autism describe emotion evoking situations?

The results show several differences between children with autism and normal children in expressing emotions. The children with autism reported negative emotions less frequently. They also made less references to specific situations when they talked about the four emotions. For all children it was more difficult to acknowledge intense negative emotions. When the researchers asked the children to react to the story, the children with autism identified fewer different emotional perspectives. In general, these results match the expectations of the researchers. However, the children with autism were able to detect less emotional perspectives in the stories that were negatively charged. In conclusion, the results of the study suggest that children with autism have more difficulties expressing their own emotions.