A large number of computer-based training programs have been developed as an intervention to help individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) improve their facial emotion recognition ability, as well as social skills. However, it is unclear to what extent these facial emotion training programs can produce beneficial, long-lasting, and generalizable results. Using standard meta-analytic techniques, we investigated the effects of facial emotion training including generalization and maintenance restricted to randomized control trial studies comprising a total of 595 individuals with ASD. Our findings revealed that the intervention resulted in a robust improvement in emotion recognition for individuals receiving training compared with controls. However, while there was also some evidence for generalization of training effects, the small number of studies which conducted follow-ups and assessed social skills reported that improvements were not maintained and there was no evidence for general improvement in social skills. Overall, the analysis revealed a medium effect size in training improvement indicating that facial emotion training may be an effective method for enhancing emotion recognition skills in ASD although more studies are required to assess maintenance of effects and possible general improvements in social skills.

中文翻译：

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面部情绪训练作为自闭症谱系障碍的干预措施：随机对照试验的荟萃分析

已经开发了大量基于计算机的培训计划作为干预措施，以帮助患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的人提高他们的面部情绪识别能力以及社交技能。然而，目前尚不清楚这些面部情绪训练计划能在多大程度上产生有益的、持久的和可推广的结果。使用标准的元分析技术，我们调查了面部情绪训练的影响，包括泛化和维持仅限于随机对照试验研究，包括总共 595 名 ASD 个体。我们的研究结果表明，与对照组相比，干预导致接受培训的个体的情绪识别能力得到显着改善。然而，虽然也有一些证据表明训练效果的普遍化，进行后续行动和评估社交技能的少数研究报告称，改善并未持续，并且没有证据表明社交技能普遍改善。总体而言，分析显示训练改善效果中等，表明面部情绪训练可能是提高 ASD 情绪识别技能的有效方法，尽管需要更多的研究来评估效果的维持和社交技能可能的总体改善。