Emoji Identification and Emoji Effects on Sentence Emotionality in ASD-Diagnosed Adults and Neurotypical Controls

Hand, Christopher J.; Kennedy, Ashley; Filik, Ruth; Pitchford, Melanie; Robus, Christopher M.

Abstract

We investigated ASD-diagnosed adults’ and neurotypical (NT) controls’ processing of emoji and emoji influence on the emotionality of otherwise-neutral sentences. Study 1 participants categorised emoji representing the six basic emotions using a fixed-set of emotional adjectives. Results showed that ASD-diagnosed participants’ classifications of fearful, sad, and surprised emoji were more diverse and less ‘typical’ than NT controls’ responses. Study 2 participants read emotionally-neutral sentences; half paired with sentence-final happy emoji, half with sad emoji. Participants rated sentence + emoji stimuli for emotional valence. ASD-diagnosed and NT participants rated sentences + happy emoji as equally-positive, however, ASD-diagnosed participants rated sentences + sad emoji as more-negative than NT participants. We must acknowledge differential perceptions and effects of emoji, and emoji-text inter-relationships, when working with neurodiverse stakeholders.

Citation

Hand, C. J., Kennedy, A., Filik, R., Pitchford, M., & Robus, C. M. (2023). Emoji Identification and Emoji Effects on Sentence Emotionality in ASD-Diagnosed Adults and Neurotypical Controls. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53, 2514–2528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05557-4

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 24, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Apr 12, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023-06
• Deposit Date: Mar 25, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 12, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Print ISSN: 0162-3257
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-3432
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 53
• Pages: 2514–2528
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05557-4
• Keywords: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7650749
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-022-05557-4