Abstract
This study aimed to assess the attentional bias toward angry faces in typically developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A continuous performance task was employed, where a distractor appeared as a target letter (“T”) and changed direction every 1,250 ms. Longer reaction times to the target in the presence of a distractor, compared to its absence, were considered as evidence of attentional bias toward the distractor. The task assessed the attentional bias toward angry faces in 14 boys with ASD and 17 TD boys, aged 6-12 years. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted on reaction times with emotion, time, and group as independent variables. The three-way interaction effect approached significance. Group-specific analyses revealed that TD children exhibited significant attentional capture when angry faces first appeared, whereas those with ASD did not. Accuracy analysis revealed no significant differences between the groups, with both groups maintaining >85% accuracy, confirming the task’s suitability for school-aged children. The absence of attentional bias toward angry faces in children with ASD indicates that these faces may not be perceived as particularly salient for children with ASD. These findings denote that interventions encouraging top-down processing of emotional cues, such as angry faces, may support the development of adaptive social skills in children with ASD.
keyword : Attentional Bias, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Facial Emotions, Social Threat, Typically Developing Children, 주의 편향, 자폐 스펙트럼 장애, 얼굴 정서, 사회적 위협, 정상 발달 아동
