There must be different brain systems involved in feeling others' different emotions, depending upon the emotion... (I had found a study that seemed to confirm this but now can't find it again. Ugh.) I do experience certain emotions as if I were feeling what others are; distress, fear, anger, strong happiness, much as you describe. Other mammals experience those, it could make sense that older brain systems come into play, and maybe some folks' ASC has that one intact but not the "reading the mind in the eyes" one.
I have a lot of trouble with the "subtle" emotions, the "eye reading" test stuff (though I can learn things and improved after a few run-throughs on an online one). The eyes alone weren't enough for me to work with. So I don't immediately know, though I can with people I know well. Oddly enough I find I get to know new people slowly.
It's much harder or impossible in a strange context, with few clues as to what the emotions might be available. It's sort of like decoding a puzzle with subtle shapes on the faces, I used to be clueless but am a lot more comfortable in groups now that I can somewhat do that. I can still get scared/anxious if I suddenly feel I'm way off base, it's a horrible, lost-in-space feeling.
Last edited by Greenleaf on 04 Oct 2016, 10:35 am, edited 1 time in total.