{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T06:07:28Z","timestamp":1779084448394,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779062400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Implicit processing of facial expressions by individuals serves as the foundation for accurate recognition and comprehension of emotional information. Difficulties in recognizing facial expressions was considered a typical characteristic of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether young children with autism have intact implicit processing of basic facial expressions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The present study utilized eye-tracking technology to assess the implicit processing performance of facial expressions in young children with ASD.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of thirty young children with ASD and 30 age-matched children with typical development (TD) were recruited. All children completed an implicit emotional face task that used facial expression photographs of Chinese children.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>No significant differences in accuracy rates between the two groups in the task. However, children with ASD showed shorter first fixation durations and lower proportion of fixation duration compared to TD children for all emotions. In addition, both groups showed a higher proportion of fixation duration and a greater number of fixations on the eye region of negative emotional faces (e.g., sad faces), as well as on the mouth region of happy faces. They showed a processing preference for the eye region of emotional faces and for fearful expressions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings indicate that children with ASD have atypical eye movements during the implicit processing of facial expressions, which may result in their difficulties in facial expression recognition.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1815115","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T05:39:44Z","timestamp":1779082784000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Implicit processing of basic facial expressions in young children with autism: an eye-tracking study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yu","family":"Xie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University","place":["Hangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Key Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mengyao","family":"Xin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University","place":["Hangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Key Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Weina","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University","place":["Hangzhou, China"]},{"name":"Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Key Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University","place":["Hangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.3390\/jemr18050053","article-title":"Recognition and misclassification patterns of basic emotional facial expressions: an eye-tracking study in young healthy adults","volume":"18","author":"Alkan","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Eye Mov. Res."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"430","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2011.02.001","article-title":"Early processing of emotional faces in children with autism: an event-related potential study","volume":"109","author":"Batty","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Exp. Child Psychol."},{"key":"ref9001","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2517-6161.1995.tb02031.x","article-title":"Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing","volume":"57","author":"Benjamini","year":"1995","journal-title":"Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological)"},{"key":"ref9002","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"449","DOI":"10.16187\/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2011.05.006","article-title":"Emotional Faces Detection and Processing of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Aged 7-10","volume":"27","author":"Chen","year":"2011","journal-title":"Psychological Development and Education."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2012.02.007","article-title":"The social motivation theory of autism","volume":"16","author":"Chevallier","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Trends Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1544","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rasd.2014.08.005","article-title":"Autistic children do not exhibit an own-race advantage as compared to typically developing children","volume":"8","author":"Chien","year":"2014","journal-title":"Res. Autism Spectr. Disord."},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ridd.2015.10.011","article-title":"Social attention in ASD: a review and meta-analysis of eye-tracking studies","volume":"48","author":"Chita-Tegmark","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Res. Dev. Disabil."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101913","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rasd.2021.101913","article-title":"Context-dependent amygdala-prefrontal connectivity in youths with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"91","author":"Christian","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Res. Autism Spectr. Disord."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-013-2006-5","article-title":"Sex differences in social perception in children with ASD","volume":"45","author":"Coffman","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"340","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-7687.2004.00352.x","article-title":"Young children with autism show atypical brain responses to fearful versus neutral facial expressions of emotion","volume":"7","author":"Dawson","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Dev. Sci."},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"194","DOI":"10.1093\/scan\/nsl030","article-title":"Looking you in the mouth: abnormal gaze in autism resulting from impaired top-down modulation of visual attention","volume":"1","author":"Dirk","year":"2006","journal-title":"J. Soc. Cognit. Affect. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref9003","first-page":"590","article-title":"The eye movements towards emotional face of the children with autism spectrum disorders","volume":"24","author":"Fan","year":"2016","journal-title":"Chinese Journal of Child Health Care."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101646","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rasd.2020.101646","article-title":"Attentional bias toward threatening emotional faces in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis on reaction time tasks","volume":"78","author":"Fan","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Res. Autism Spectr. Disord."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.3758\/BF03193146","article-title":"G*power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences","volume":"39","author":"Faul","year":"2007","journal-title":"Behav. Res. Methods."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"581","DOI":"10.1089\/aut.2023.0199","article-title":"Facial affect differences in autistic and non-autistic adults across contexts and their relationship to first-impression formation","volume":"7","author":"Foster","year":"2024","journal-title":"Autism Adulthood"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02206860","article-title":"Sustained attention in children with autism","volume":"20","author":"Garretson","year":"1990","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"755","DOI":"10.1080\/13803395.2023.2167943","article-title":"Faster social attention disengagement in individuals with higher autism traits","volume":"44","author":"Goold","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"45","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bpsc.2024.08.017","article-title":"Spatiotemporal eye movement dynamics reveal altered face prioritization in early visual processing among autistic children","volume":"10","author":"Griffin","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Biol. Psychiatry Cognit. Neurosci. Neuroimaging"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"330","DOI":"10.1037\/abn0001026","article-title":"Reduced social prioritization: an underlying mechanism driving slower latency to look at faces in autism","volume":"135","author":"Griffin","year":"2026","journal-title":"J. Psychopathol. Clin. Sci."},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.1007\/s11065-010-9138-6","article-title":"Facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorders: a review of behavioral and neuroimaging studies","volume":"20","author":"Harms","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Neuropsychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"428","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2020.00428","article-title":"Evidence of an own-age bias in facial emotion recognition for adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder","volume":"11","author":"Hauschild","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Front. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"328","DOI":"10.1352\/1944-7558-120.4.328","article-title":"Implicit discrimination of basic facial expressions of positive\/negative emotion in fragile X syndrome and autism spectrum disorder","volume":"120","author":"Hayley","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Am. J. Intell. Dev. Disabil."},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1017\/S0140525X18001826","article-title":"Being versus appearing socially uninterested: challenging assumptions about social motivation in autism","volume":"42","author":"Jaswal","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Behav. Brain Sci."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"946","DOI":"10.1001\/archpsyc.65.8.946","article-title":"Absence of preferential looking to the eyes of approaching adults predicts level of social disability in 2-year-old toddlers with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"65","author":"Jones","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"871","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-018-3787-3","article-title":"Enhanced early visual responses during implicit emotional faces processing in autism spectrum disorder","volume":"49","author":"Klara","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"697","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2010.07.037","article-title":"fMRI evidence of neural abnormalities in the subcortical face processing system in ASD","volume":"54","author":"Kleinhans","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Neuro-Oncol."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"809","DOI":"10.1001\/archpsyc.59.9.809","article-title":"Visual fixation patterns during viewing of naturalistic social situations as predictors of social competence in individuals with autism","volume":"59","author":"Klin","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry."},{"key":"ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1378593","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2024.1378593","article-title":"A comparison of visual attention to pictures in the autism diagnostic observation schedule in children and adolescents with ADHD and\/or autism","volume":"15","author":"Kochhar","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Front. Psychiatry."},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"677549","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2021.677549","article-title":"Case of Asperger's syndrome and lesion of the right amygdala: deficits in implicit and explicit fearful face recognition","volume":"12","author":"Koelkebeck","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Front. Psychology."},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1016\/j.schres.2008.05.030","article-title":"Dynamic evoked facial expressions of emotions in schizophrenia","volume":"105","author":"Kohler","year":"2008","journal-title":"Schizophr. Res."},{"key":"ref9006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1016\/j.nicl.2014.11.009","article-title":"Early neural activation during facial affect processing in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder","volume":"7","author":"Leung","year":"2015","journal-title":"NeuroImage: Clinical"},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1021","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bpsc.2019.03.013","article-title":"Happy and angry faces elicit atypical neural activation in children with autism spectrum disorder","volume":"4","author":"Leung","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Biol. Psychiatry Cognit. Neurosci. Neuroimaging."},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1626","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954579423000913","article-title":"The early development of emotion recognition in autistic children: decoding basic emotions from facial expressions and from emotion-provoking situations","volume":"36","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Dev. Psychopathol."},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"358","DOI":"10.11852\/zgetbjzz2017-25-04-10","article-title":"Study on the characteristics of the basic facial expression recognition in autism spectrum disorder spectrum disorder and attention deficit\/hyperactivity disorder children","volume":"25","author":"Li","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Chin. J. Child Health Care."},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"817","DOI":"10.3969\/j.issn.1000-6729.2022.10.001","article-title":"Response inhibition to explicit and implicit emotional faces in major depressive disorder","volume":"36","author":"Liang","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Chin. Ment. Health J."},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"66","DOI":"10.3969\/j.issn.1007-3728.2022.09.008","article-title":"The characteristics of alertness and maintenance of social orientation of facial expressions in children with autism in dynamic situations","volume":"9","author":"Lin","year":"2022","journal-title":"Chin. J. Spec. Educ."},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"234","DOI":"10.3969\/j.issn.1006-6020.2021.03.005","article-title":"The development of chinese undergraduate dynamic affective facial database","volume":"27","author":"Liu","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Chin. J. Appl. Psychol."},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"933","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954579414000479","article-title":"Impairments in facial affect recognition associated with autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis","volume":"26","author":"Lozier","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Dev. Psychopathol."},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1520854","DOI":"10.3389\/frcha.2024.1520854","article-title":"Emotion recognition deficits in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a comprehensive meta-analysis of accuracy and response time","volume":"3","author":"Masoomi","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Front. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1080\/17405620344000022","article-title":"Emotion comprehension between 3 and 11 years: developmental periods and hierarchical organization","volume":"1","author":"Pons","year":"2004","journal-title":"J. Eur. J. Dev. Psychology."},{"key":"ref9004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2621","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-016-2800-y","article-title":"Externalizing and internalizing symptoms moderate longitudinal patterns of facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder","volume":"46","author":"Rosen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders."},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.3389\/fnint.2019.00076","article-title":"Atypical social attention and emotional face processing in autism spectrum disorder: insights from face scanning and pupillometry","volume":"13","author":"Reisinger","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Front. Integr. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref9005","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1002\/aur.4","article-title":"Children with autism demonstrate circumscribed attention during passive viewing of complex social and nonsocial picture arrays","volume":"1","author":"Sasson","year":"2008","journal-title":"Autism research: official journal of the International Society for Autism Research."},{"key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1664","DOI":"10.1111\/jcpp.14172","article-title":"Gaze behavior, facial emotion processing, and neural underpinnings: a comparison of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and conduct disorder","volume":"66","author":"Tkalcec","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry."},{"key":"ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1517","DOI":"10.1007\/s10803-012-1695-5","article-title":"Recognition of emotions in autism: a formal meta-analysis","volume":"43","author":"Uljarevic","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Autism Dev. Disord."},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101930","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rasd.2022.101930","article-title":"Social attention and autism in early childhood: evidence on behavioral markers based on visual scanning of emotional faces with eye-tracking methodology","volume":"93","author":"Vacas","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Res. Autism Spectr. Disord."},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"980","DOI":"10.1037\/emo0000628","article-title":"Attentional bias to fearful faces in infants at high risk for autism spectrum disorder","volume":"20","author":"Wagner","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Emotion."},{"key":"ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"72","DOI":"10.16719\/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230110","article-title":"The own-age bias in face processing in children with ASD","volume":"46","author":"Wei","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpsychires.2025.03.032","article-title":"Abnormal brain activation in autism spectrum disorder during negative emotion processing: a meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies","volume":"185","author":"Wei","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Psychiatr. Res."},{"key":"ref46","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"108619","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biopsycho.2023.108619","article-title":"The prefrontal cortex is differentially involved in implicit and explicit facial emotion processing: an fNIRS study","volume":"181","author":"Yeung","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Biol. Psychol."},{"key":"ref47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2015.09.011","article-title":"Children with autism spectrum disorder scan own-race faces differently from other-race faces","volume":"141","author":"Yi","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Exp. Child Psychol."},{"key":"ref48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.27020\/d.cnki.gfjyu.2019.00091313","article-title":"Children with autism spectrum disorder have differences in face processing of the same age and different age","author":"Yu","year":"2019","journal-title":"Fujian Med. Univ."},{"key":"ref49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"961","DOI":"10.1007\/s12264-020-00530-6","article-title":"Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in China: a nationwide multi-center population-based study among children aged 6 to 12 years","volume":"36","author":"Zhou","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Neurosci. Bull."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1815115\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]],"date-time":"2026-05-18T05:39:51Z","timestamp":1779082791000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1815115\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]]},"references-count":53,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1815115"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1815115","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,18]]},"article-number":"1815115"}}