Studies on individuals without developmental disorder show that mental representation of self-face is subject to a multimodal process in the same way that the representation of the self-body is. People with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) have a particular pattern of face processing and a multimodal integration deficit.

The objectives of our study were to evaluate the self-face recognition and the effect of interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) in individuals with ASD. We aimed to show a self-face recognition deficit and a lack of multimodal integration among this population.

IMS consisted of the presentation of a movie displaying an unfamiliar face being touched intermittently, while the examiner applied the same stimulation synchronously or asynchronously on the participant. The effect resulting from IMS was measured on two groups with or without ASD by a self-face recognition task on morphing movies made from self-face and unfamiliar-face pictures.

There was a significant difference between groups on self-recognition before stimulation. This result shows a self-face recognition deficit in individuals with ASD. Results for the control group showed a significant effect of IMS on self-face recognition in synchronous condition. This suggests the existence of an update of self-face mental representation by multimodal process. In contrast, there was no significant effect of IMS demonstrated in ASD group, suggesting a multimodal integration deficit for the constitution of self-representation in this population.

Our results show the existence of a self-face recognition deficit in individuals with ASD, which may be linked to a lack of multimodal integration in the development of the self-face representation.