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Impaired Face Processing in Autism: Fact or Artifact?

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Within the last 10 years, there has been an upsurge of interest in face processing abilities in autism which has generated a proliferation of new empirical demonstrations employing a variety of measuring techniques. Observably atypical social behaviors early in the development of children with autism have led to the contention that autism is a condition where the processing of social information, particularly faces, is impaired. While several empirical sources of evidence lend support to this hypothesis, others suggest that there are conditions under which autistic individuals do not differ from typically developing persons. The present paper reviews this bulk of empirical evidence, and concludes that the versatility and abilities of face processing in persons with autism have been underestimated.

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Notes

  1. Other findings showed that P1 (and/or its magnetic analogue M100) is the early face-specific component, as it is sensitive to configural properties of faces (Halit, de Haan, & Johnson, 2000), face inversion (Itier & Taylor, 2002; Linkenkaer-Hansen et al., 1998), early visual categorization of faces and objects (Liu, Harris, & Kanwisher, 2002), and face expression (Batty & Taylor, 2003; Pizzagalli, Regard, & Lehmann, 1999).

  2. Gamma (γ) responses correspond to oscillations in the EEG within a 30–70 Hz frequency band. A strong correlation between γ-band responses and stimulus coherency has been greatly highlighted by multiunit recording studies in animals (Gray, König, Engel, & Singer, 1989) and by studies at coarser level of spatial resolution (scalp and intracortical EEG) in humans (Gruber, Müller, & Keil, 2002; Lachaux et al., 2000; Rodriguez et al., 1999; Tallon-Baudry, Bertrand, Delpuech, & Pernier, 1997). In contrast to the evoked-γ response (~100 ms), the induced-γ activity (~200–300 ms) which is neither phase nor time-locked to stimulus onset is the neural signature of perceptual grouping and integration (visual binding), and seems to be modulated by past experience, attention, etc, and other cognitive factors. Gamma-range spectral power is calculated via time-frequency wavelet decomposition of the EEG signal, a method that provides a time-varying magnitude within a specific frequency band, leading to time by frequency (TF) representation of the signal. TF energy is averaged across single trials, allowing detection of non-phase-locked γ-responses to target stimuli.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Laboratory in Neuroscience and Cognitive Electrophysiology, Hôpital Rivière des Prairies, Montréal, Canada

    Boutheina Jemel

  2. Neurodevelopmental Disorders Program, Hôpital Rivière des Prairies, Montréal, Canada

    Laurent Mottron & Michelle Dawson

  3. Centre de Recherche Fernand-Seguin, Montréal, Canada

    Boutheina Jemel & Laurent Mottron

  4. Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montréal, Canada

    Boutheina Jemel & Laurent Mottron

  5. Research Laboratory in Neuroscience and Cognitive Electrophysiology, Hôpital Rivière des Prairies, 7070 Boulevard Perras, H1E 1A4, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Boutheina Jemel

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  1. Boutheina Jemel
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  2. Laurent Mottron
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Jemel, B., Mottron, L. & Dawson, M. Impaired Face Processing in Autism: Fact or Artifact?. J Autism Dev Disord 36, 91–106 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-005-0050-5

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