What are you like with reading facial expressions/emotions?

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I used to find facial expressions really hard to read, but I've spent so many years watching and analysing people, that I think I'm okay at it now.

For example, I was at band practice yesterday and I played something that the drummer couldn't. I said "don't worry, if I can play it, you definitely can!" which was meant to be a supportive statement, but because I'm not a drummer; I can play a few things but don't really have the confidence to perform, and I could play it when he couldn't, he took that negatively. I watched his face whilst playing and I think I detected sadness/frustration/something along those lines. I didn't realise that what I said at first was bad, but after seeing his face, I tried to think what it could be, and I thought of what I just said. It may not have been that, but that seems logical to me.

EDIT: I was looking at the other band members and I don't think that they noticed either - well, I didn't detect any change in their faces. So I noticed by all the other NTs didn't? Slightly confused here...

Is being able to read facial expressions through training/watching other people "normal" for AS?
Is the fact that I worked out what I did wrong "normal" for AS?
Do you think you'd be able to do this?

I'm 20 and female. This is one of the reasons why I don't want to get a diagnosis. I'm older so I've trained myself to learn what comes naturally to others. This means I no longer really have the symptoms that come under the AS umbrella, but it's not natural and I've had to work at it, so maybe it does count? Urgh, I don't know...

Being able to train oneself to read facial expressions is normal for AS. Some people are better at it than others, but it is normal. Being able to figure out what you did wrong is higher level thinking, which is tough to do, but something I've learned to do. Other people on here have learned to do this too, I'm sure. You probably don't need a diagnosis. It would only be a burden, since you can correct your own errors. I think the purpose of a diagnosis is to give someone a starting point from which to fix things. That, or to glorify psychology and make money.

I'm good with reading facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and other non-verbal cues from instinct, which then makes me wonder why I was diagnosed with AS because it seems more common for those with ASDs to not understand non-verbal cues. I was even told that it is not possible for someone with ASDs to be able to read non-verbal cues by instinct.

The only problem is, if someone gave me a written test about non-verbal cues, I would get a zero. If somebody was with me and pointed to a random person and said, ''how's she feeling?'', my mind would shut down, probably out of fear of getting it wrong. But if I happened have just saw the person without being asked how she was feeling and expected to give a logical answer, I would sort of know how she's feeling by instinct. Well, that is if she was giving off some sort of expression to make you notice how she's feeling, not if she was just hiding all her emotions on the outside like people often do when they're just out alone. It's a bit like someone asking you to logically explain what the word ''the'' means, I wouldn't know how to explain it at all, even though I use the word ''the'' every day without realising it.

What confuses me is, on WP often a thread comes up saying about a particular emotion being an Aspie trait. It could be any emotion, like anger, fear (irrational fear aswell), excitement, anxiety, sorrow, et cetera, et cetera. But in the next breath it's NTs that are always feeling some sort of emotion all the time. Explain please?

I am generally OK at reading facial expressions. My results in online tests varies some depending on the test--I generally do better on ones where each photo has four multiple choice options specific to that question. On ones where the options are the same for each photo (say, the same 8 or 10 options for each), I generally do worse, but I am able to distinguish positive emotions from negative ones, at least. I generally recognize tone, too, but I have the tendency to answer rhetorical questions.

On the other hand, I seem to have a more difficult time picking up body language. Like, people will refer to someone we both know and say, "he looks stressed" or "she looks miserable" or "she looks so relaxed now," but I wouldn't know unless that person said something that suggested as much.

I have trained myself as well, I can recognize basic emotions in somewhat regular speed now by "scanning" for the necessary parts of faces. Other than that I draw, I also draw people and faces, so I had to analyze people for this anyway and this meant lots of google research to analyze the different emotions displayed in faces. So I think my interest in drawing and my researches helped me.
Tone of voice, however, is a totally different story, I sometimes don't recognize the emotion behind it at all and have to ask "are you angry/sarcastic/*insert emotion here*?".

It's always been easy for me.

I have become quite good at labelling emotions on photos or on film, but in real life situations I can't even look at something or someone while trying to listen, else I lose the meaning of what is said.

Oh, funny thing: I've never had any problems with film and photos as well. I can even look people in the eyes if it is on a photo, on film it is slightly more difficult but still acceptable. I also have no problems with virtual people in video games.

I don't know why.

The many years I've spent avoiding people's eyes and sitting on the outskirts of lunch tables and friendship circles, has given me the opportunity to observe the behavior and facial expressions of others. This has made me more adept at reading and understanding other people, non-verbally. However, I did also get a few pointers from a good friend of mine about how to identify her expressions- plus, watching television has also helped.

I always get surprised when people cry out loud in front of me because I never see it coming.

I've become a lot better at it, but it was quite difficult for a long time. I can pick up on happy, sad and angry easily, but I have to really pay attention to pick up on other expressions. I completely miss things like flirting or a concerned expression and generally perceive them as happy and sad respectively.

Thank you for all of your replies.

Btw, after thinking about it, I have realised that I can work out people's facial expressions irl if I am watching them in general, but if I am in a conversation with them, my mind can't just analyse their face, otherwise I won't be listening to what they're saying/I'd be staring etc, so I'm not sure how this changes things. Also, as someone said earlier, on the online facial expressions tests, I generally do quite well, but that's only if they give multiple choice. For some reason, if I was to just work it out completely from my own head (which I apparently can do irl :S), I get a significantly lower score. How does that make sense?

My gut feeling is that I'm really good at it, but I don't really know how good other people are at it.