The abilities to identify threat and learn about affect in facial photographs were compared between a non-autistic university student group (NUS), a matched Asperger's group (MAS) on the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), and an unmatched Asperger's group (UAS) who scored lower on the SPM. Participants were given pairs of faces and asked which…

We sought to clarify the nature of the face processing strength commonly observed in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) by comparing the face recognition ability of persons with WS to that of persons with autism and to healthy controls under three conditions: Upright faces with neutral expressions, upright faces with varying affective…

Evidence that the vigor of the startle reflex varies systematically with the organism's emotional state is reviewed. A theory elucidating this relationship suggests how amplitude of eyeblink response to a probe may be modulated by affective content of perception and thought. Implications for research on emotion are outlined. (SLD)