Neural Correlates of Facial Affect Processing in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

摘要: ABSTRACT Objective To examine the neural basis of impairments in interpreting facial emotions children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Method Twelve ASD 12 typically developing (TD) controls matched faces by emotion assigned a label to expressions while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Both groups engaged similar networks during processing, including activity fusiform gyrus (FG) prefrontal cortex. However, between-group analyses regions interest revealed that when matching expressions, group showed significantly less than TD FG, but reliably greater precuneus. During labeling emotions, no differences were observed at behavioral or level. Furthermore, amygdala was moderated task demands not group. Conclusions These findings suggest part recruit different rely on strategies processing emotions. High-functioning individuals may be relatively unimpaired cognitive assessment basic yet still show automatic expressions.