Over-selectivity as a learned response

The effects of concurrent cognitive task load on recognising faces displaying emotion

Two independent experiments (N = 30 and N = 24) investigated the effects of concurrent task loads on the recognition of faces displaying emotions. The study aimed to explore a possible resolution for an apparently discrepant finding in the literature regarding the impact of such loads on recognition of facial emotions. Faces displaying different emotions were presented, with or without a concurrent load, until the facial stimuli were correctly labelled to criterion in terms of the displayed emotion. Participants were then presented with elements from the faces (i.e. eyebrows, eyes, and mouth). When participants had to complete the concurrent task as well as the facial recognition task, they did not respond equally to the separate facial elements, and over-selected to the mouth when recognising facial expressions of emotion. The findings relating to the impact of the concurrent load tasks on correct labelling of the facial elements with respect to the emotional faces are discussed in terms of the impact of cognitive load on the production of over-selectivity and the recognition of faces displaying emotions in complex situations, and the implications for those with a developmental disability.

Stimulus Overselectivity in Autism, Down Syndrome, and Typical Development

Stimulus overselectivity refers to maladaptive narrow attending that is a common learning problem among children with intellectual disabilities and frequently associated with autism. The present study contrasted overselectivity among groups of children with autism, Down syndrome, and typical development. The groups with autism and Down syndrome were matched for intellectual level, and all three groups were matched for developmental levels on tests of nonverbal reasoning and receptive vocabulary. Delayed matching-to-sample tests presented color/form compounds, printed words, photographs of faces, Mayer-Johnson Picture Communication Symbols, and unfamiliar black forms. No significant differences among groups emerged for test accuracy scores. Overselectivity was not statistically overrepresented among individuals with autism in contrast to those with Down syndrome or typically developing children.