The Effect of Inversion on the Anger Superiority Effect in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders

Previous studies have demonstrated that angry faces capture humans’ attention more rapidly than emotionally positive faces. This phenomenon is referred to as the anger superiority effect (ASE). Despite atypical emotional processing, adults and children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have been reported to show ASE as well as typically developed (TD) individuals. In this study, we tested ASE in children with and without ASD using upright/ inverted schematic faces to explore the face-processing style employed by them during detection of emotional faces. The results revealed that faster detection of angry faces over happy faces was observed in both TD and ASD children. Interestingly, however, the effect was stronger in children with ASD compared to TD children when faces were inverted. These findings suggest that different face-processing style would be employed or different mechanisms of emotional processing would underlie the quick detection of angry faces in children with and without ASD.