[Cognitive processing in autism spectrum disorders].
BACKGROUND
Autism involves a basic impairment in social cognition. Abnormalities in social behavior coexist with aberrant attention and deficient language. In the attentional domain, attention to people and socially relevant stimuli is impaired. Also children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by impairments in face recognition and decreased attention to faces.


OBJECTIVE
To review neurofunctional deficits underlying ASD by using event related potentials.


CONCLUSIONS
Event related potentials demonstrate that auditory orienting deficits in autism cannot be explained by sensory deficits and that the orienting deficit in autism might be speech-sound specific, suggesting deficits particularly in social orienting. In addition, children with ASD have a disordered pattern of brain responses to faces and objects at an early age.
Idiazábal-Aletxa
M A
MA
Hospital Universitari del Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Espana. mariannf@eresmas.com
Boque-Hermida
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E
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception