Amygdala Damage Impairs Eye Contact During Conversations with Real People

Spezio, Michael L.; Huang, Poyin; Castelli, Fulvia; Adolphs, Ralph

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3789-06.2007

Cited by 188 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Support for amygdalar involvement in the lack of attention toward the eyes comes from elegant studies in patients with amygdala lesions. These patients showed reduced reflexive orientation toward the eyes when looking at faces on photographs or videos (Adolphs et al, 2005;Adolphs, 2007;Spezio et al, 2007). Thus, if reduced orientation to the eyes would be mediated by the amygdala in autism, this should be represented in decreased activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Within normal functioning, an increase in amygdala activation seems to be associated with immediate orientation toward the eyes (Gamer and Büchel, 2009;Gamer et al, 2010). Along the same lines, patients with bilateral amygdala lesions fail to reflexively gaze toward the eyes (Spezio et al, 2007). Thus, if the amygdala triggers orientation toward salient social cues, such as the eyes, decreased amygdalar response to faces in ASD would rather support the reduced orientation hypothesis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Another hypothesis suggests an aversiveness of eye contact, leading to an avoidance of eye fixation (Richer and Coss, 1976;Kylliäinen and Hietanen, 2006). In fact, these processes do not have to be mutually exclusive (Spezio et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of the Amygdala in Atypical Gaze on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Kliemann¹,

Dziobek²,

Hatri³

et al. 2012

Journal of Neuroscience

153

154

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Reduced focus toward the eyes is a characteristic of atypical gaze on emotional faces in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Along with the atypical gaze, aberrant amygdala activity during face processing compared with neurotypically developed (NT) participants has been repeatedly reported in ASD. It remains unclear whether the previously reported dysfunctional amygdalar response patterns in ASD support an active avoidance of direct eye contact or rather a lack of social attention. Using a recently introduced emotion classification task, we investigated eye movements and changes in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the amygdala with a 3T MRI scanner in 16 autistic and 17 control adult human participants. By modulating the initial fixation position on faces, we investigated changes triggered by the eyes compared with the mouth. Between-group interaction effects revealed different patterns of gaze and amygdalar BOLD changes in ASD and NT: Individuals with ASD gazed more often away from than toward the eyes, compared with the NT group, which showed the reversed tendency. An interaction contrast of group and initial fixation position further yielded a significant cluster of amygdala activity. Extracted parameter estimates showed greater response to eyes fixation in ASD, whereas the NT group showed an increase for mouth fixation.The differing patterns of amygdala activity in combination with differing patterns of gaze behavior between groups triggered by direct eye contact and mouth fixation, suggest a dysfunctional profile of the amygdala in ASD involving an interplay of both eye-avoidance processing and reduced orientation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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The Role of the Amygdala in Atypical Gaze on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Kliemann¹,

Dziobek²,

Hatri³

et al. 2012

Journal of Neuroscience

153

154

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…84 The latter finding has been shown at the single-neuron level in people with autism as well. Specifically, one study found groups of amygdalar neurons responsive to whole-face images both in people with autism and in controls.…”

Section: Social Deficitsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Deep brain stimulation for severe autism: from pathophysiology to procedure

Sinha

McGovern

Sheth

2015

FOC

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Autism is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by early-onset impairment in social interaction and communication and by repetitive, restricted behaviors and interests. Because the degree of impairment may vary, a spectrum of clinical manifestations exists. Severe autism is characterized by complete lack of language development and potentially life-threatening self-injurious behavior, the latter of which may be refractory to medical therapy and devastating for affected individuals and their caretakers. New treatment strategies are therefore needed. Here, the authors propose deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) as a therapeutic intervention to treat severe autism. The authors review recent developments in the understanding of the pathophysiology of autism. Specifically, they describe the genetic and environmental alterations that affect neurodevelopment. The authors also highlight the resultant microstructural, macrostructural, and functional abnormalities that emerge during brain development, which create a pattern of dysfunctional neural networks involved in socioemotional processing. They then discuss how these findings implicate the BLA as a key node in the pathophysiology of autism and review a reported case of BLA DBS for treatment of severe autism. Much progress has been made in recent years in understanding the pathophysiology of autism. The BLA represents a logical neurosurgical target for treating severe autism. Further study is needed that considers mechanistic and operative challenges.

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“…Further, these fixation durations predicted scores on a measure of social responsiveness (Speer et al, 2007). In the same vein, a recent study reported that more the eyes conveyed social information the more autistic subjects performed ocular saccades away from the eyes (Spezio, Huang, Castelli, & Adolphs, 2007), supporting the idea of an eye avoidance in autism (abnormality in eye contact, DSM IV). This is consistent with our findings that eyes were not well or realistically drawn by ASD children.…”

Section: Drawing Of Internal Facial Elements Eyes and Mouthmentioning

confidence: 80%

“Please Draw Me a Face…” Atypical Face Mental Concept in Autism

Meaux

Bakhos²,

Bonnet‐Brilhault³

et al. 2014

PSYCH

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Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by early manifestations of social difficulties and atypical sensory-based behaviors. As faces are essential for social interaction, they have been widely investigated in autism, revealing disruptions in face processing. Cognitive theories argue that people with autism process the world differently, showing a processing bias for local information. However, the literature currently neglects the mental representation of faces, or face concept, in people with ASD. The current study sought to establish how young children with ASD "see" a human face. A key question is whether this face concept is a function of cognitive style and/or sensory impairment. By comparing simple face drawings in young children with ASD, with those of deaf children and controls, we highlight an atypical face concept in ASD that does not show, however, global processing deficits: face drawing presents a preserved overall configuration. The atypical face drawings in children with ASD showed similarities with those of deaf children: eyes were not an essential feature, whereas a marked interest for ears and non-facial external features (accessories, body parts) was shown. These findings suggest that the face mental concept in ASD may be impacted by sensory processing deficits.

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Amygdala Damage Impairs Eye Contact During Conversations with Real People

Cited by 188 publications

References 35 publications

The Role of the Amygdala in Atypical Gaze on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Disorders

The Role of the Amygdala in Atypical Gaze on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Deep brain stimulation for severe autism: from pathophysiology to procedure

“Please Draw Me a Face…” Atypical Face Mental Concept in Autism

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