Face Perception: An Approach to the Study of Autism

Dr. Langdell’s groundbreaking research into Autism Spectrum Disorders in the 1970s included a number of “firsts:” the first studies to use face perception as an approach to understanding the autistic condition; revelatory findings such as that autistic children do not avoid other’s gaze, rather they do not look at eyes any more than they look at other parts of the face; that autistic children can recognize upside down faces better than non-autistic children; the first computerized eye-tracking studies of autistic children looking at faces and different objects; the first proposal of what has become known as the amygdala hypothesis of autism; and many more studies and findings together with its unique theory as to the nature and causes of autism. Unfortunately, only one of the studies in the thesis was published as an academic paper (1978’s seminal paper published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry). A review of the literature since the early 1980s suggests that many subsequent researchers, who did not read the thesis on file at University College, London, made the mistake of believing the 1978 paper summarized the entirety of the thesis’ studies, findings and conclusions. Since the balance of the studies in the thesis have still yet to be published as academic papers, this book seeks to set the record straight and give easy access to the many other studies, findings and conclusions that are in the original thesis. The work covered in the thesis was undertaken at the Medical Research Council Unit at University College London, as well as at other locations in the UK, US and Holland, during the period 1975-1981. This book opens with an introduction to the studies, a review of where the study of autism currently stands, and a biographical summary of the fertile field of face perception studies in autism that were inspired by the original work Dr. Langdell undertook in the 1970s.