Eye-tracking, autonomic, and electrophysiological correlates of emotional face processing in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty with social-emotional cues. This study examined the neural, behavioral, and autonomic correlates of emotional face processing in adolescents with ASD and typical development (TD) using eye-tracking and event-related potentials (ERPs) across two different paradigms. Scanning of faces was similar across groups in the first task, but the second task found that face-sensitive ERPs varied with emotional expressions only in TD. Further, ASD showed enhanced neural responding to non-social stimuli. In TD only, attention to eyes during eye-tracking related to faster face-sensitive ERPs in a separate task; in ASD, a significant positive association was found between autonomic activity and attention to mouths. Overall, ASD showed an atypical pattern of emotional face processing, with reduced neural differentiation between emotions and a reduced relationship between gaze behavior and neural processing of faces.
Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, 1 Autumn Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. jen.wagner@alum.mit.edu
Jennifer B
JB
Wagner
Suzanna B
SB
Hirsch
Vanessa K
VK
Vogel-Farley
Elizabeth
E
Redcay
Charles A
CA
Nelson
D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012025:Reflex, Pupillary / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult