HSE Scientists Explain Why Findings in Autism Research Differ
Researchers from the Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre at HSE University conducted the first-ever systematic review of studies on the specifics of emotion-from-motion perception in autism. The review showed that differences found between autistic and non-autistic individuals are largely associated with the experimental design and the types of tasks given to study participants. The review findings have been published in Research in Autism.
Understanding emotions is a complex process that is crucial for successful social interaction. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience difficulties recognising emotions due to the characteristics of their sensory, motor, and social profiles. While emotion perception from facial expressions and vocal cues has been relatively well studied, recognising emotions from biological motion—such as gait, head tilt, posture, or gestures—remains a much less explored area.
In some of the reviewed studies, the authors report a significant reduction in the ability of individuals with ASD to recognise emotions from motion, while other studies find only minimal differences between autistic and neurotypical participants.
To systematise the existing evidence, researchers from the HSE Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre searched the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases and selected 16 publications on emotion-from-motion perception in autistic and non-autistic individuals. In total, the combined sample included more than 1,300 children and adults. The analysis focused on three key methodological aspects: experimental paradigms, stimulus characteristics, and types of control tasks.
The review showed that study outcomes were directly related to the experimental design. In total, seven different types of tasks were identified, but only two were used in most of the reviewed studies. In tasks requiring verbal naming of emotions, autistic participants consistently performed worse than non-autistic controls. In more structured tasks, such as rating the intensity of an emotion or comparing emotional states, differences between the groups often disappeared. In several tasks, autistic participants demonstrated performance that was equal to or even more accurate than that of the control group.
The authors point out that the range of emotions examined in the experiments was too limited to allow broad generalisation. Comparisons with control tasks indicate that the difficulties are not related to processing motion or emotions separately but rather to extracting emotional meaning from movement.
Elena Gavrilova
'We can see that difficulties do not always arise, nor do they appear in all conditions. This suggests that we are not dealing with a universal deficit but rather with a high sensitivity to task format. The type of experimental task, the level of structure in the instructions, whether verbalisation is required, and the overall experimental design all influence the study results,' notes study author Elena Gavrilova, Junior Research Fellow at the Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre.
'The question needs to be framed differently: not "Can autistic people recognise emotions from movement?" but rather "Under what conditions do differences arise, and why?”' Gavrilova emphasises.
Based on the review, the authors developed recommendations aimed at making research in this area more consistent and informative. In particular, they propose directly comparing different experimental tasks within a single study, developing standardised stimuli and methodological approaches, and more widely applying neurophysiological methods, open data, and reproducible research designs. Such steps will help move from heterogeneous findings toward a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals with ASD perceive emotions, and how this knowledge can be applied in education, clinical practice, and support strategies.
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