Atypical disengagement from faces and its modulation by the control of eye fixation in children with autism spectrum disorder.
By using the gap overlap task, we investigated disengagement from faces and objects in children (9-17 years old) with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its neurophysiological correlates. In typically developing (TD) children, faces elicited larger gap effect, an index of attentional engagement, and larger saccade-related event-related potentials (ERPs), compared to objects. In children with ASD, by contrast, neither gap effect nor ERPs differ between faces and objects. Follow-up experiments demonstrated that instructed fixation on the eyes induces larger gap effect for faces in children with ASD, whereas instructed fixation on the mouth can disrupt larger gap effect in TD children. These results suggest a critical role of eye fixation on attentional engagement to faces in both groups.
Kikuchi
Yukiko
Y
Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. yukko@darwin.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Senju
Atsushi
A
Akechi
Hironori
H
Tojo
Yoshikuni
Y
Osanai
Hiroo
H
Hasegawa
Toshikazu
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology