[INVITED] Non-intrusive optical imaging of face to probe physiological traits in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can impair non-verbal communication including the variety and extent of facial expressions in social and interpersonal communication. These impairments may appear as differential traits in the physiology of facial muscles of an individual with ASD when compared to a typically developing individual. The differential traits in the facial expressions as shown by facial muscle-specific changes (also known as ‘facial oddity’ for subjects with ASD) may be measured visually. However, this mode of measurement may not discern the subtlety in facial oddity distinctive to ASD. Earlier studies have used intrusive electrophysiological sensors on the facial skin to gauge facial muscle actions from quantitative physiological data. This study demonstrates, for the first time in the literature, novel quantitative measures for facial oddity recognition using non-intrusive facial imaging sensors such as video and 3D optical cameras. An Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved that pilot study has been conducted on a group of individuals consisting of eight participants with ASD and eight typically developing participants in a control group to capture their facial images in response to visual stimuli. The proposed computational techniques and statistical analyses reveal higher mean of actions in the facial muscles of the ASD group versus the control group. The facial muscle-specific evaluation reveals intense yet asymmetric facial responses as facial oddity in participants with ASD. This finding about the facial oddity may objectively define measurable differential markers in the facial expressions of individuals with ASD.