title: Repetition Suppression in Ventral Visual Cortex Is Diminished as a Function of Increasing Autistic Traits.
abstract: Repeated viewing of a stimulus causes a change in perceptual sensitivity, known as a visual aftereffect. Similarly, in neuroimaging, repetitions of the same stimulus result in a reduction in the neural response, known as repetition suppression (RS). Previous research shows that aftereffects for faces are reduced in both children with autism and in first-degree relatives. With functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that the magnitude of RS to faces in neurotypical participants was negatively correlated with individual differences in autistic traits. We replicated this finding in a second experiment, while additional experiments showed that autistic traits also negatively predicted RS to images of scenes and simple geometric shapes. These findings suggest that a core aspect of neural function--the brain's response to repetition--is modulated by autistic traits.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Ewbank
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Elisabeth A H
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: von dem Hagen
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bright
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Raliza S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Stoyanova
authors.affiliation: Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baron-Cohen
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Calder
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: autism; fMRI adaptation; face-processing; fusiform; scenes