Deviant gaze processing in children with autism: an ERP study

Senju, Atsushi; Tojo, Yoshikuni; Yaguchi, Kiyoshi; Hasegawa, Toshikazu

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.12.002

Cited by 113 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Yet our sample of children with ASD showed comparable RTs for gender judgments in both direct and averted gaze conditions. Our findings parallel those showing similar processing of direct and averted eye gaze in behavioral (Wallace et al, 2006), eyetracking (Hernandez et al, 2009), and event-related brain potential (Senju, Tojo, Yaguchi, & Hasegawa, 2005) studies, which together speak against the possibility that the present findings are due to hyperarousal to direct eye gaze in autism.…”

Section: Materials and Proceduressupporting

confidence: 89%

Mutual eye gaze facilitates person categorization for typically developing children, but not for children with autism

Pellicano

Macrae

2009

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous investigations of gaze processing in autism have demonstrated a pattern of intact and impaired performance. Although individuals with autism are capable of discriminating another's gaze, they fail to interpret gaze direction, especially within the context of sociocommunicative (i.e., mentalistic) interactions. Extending this general line of inquiry, we explored whether typical children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were influenced by gaze direction in a task that demanded a core person-related judgment-namely, sex categorization. The results revealed that typically developing school-aged children were faster to classify faces by sex when targets displayed direct rather than averted gaze, or when the eyes were closed. This was not the case, however, for children with ASD, whose responses were unaffected by gaze direction. These findings suggest that difficulties in gaze processing in autism extend beyond sociocommunicative inferences to include basic person-perception judgments.

show abstract

Section: Materials and Proceduressupporting

confidence: 89%

Mutual eye gaze facilitates person categorization for typically developing children, but not for children with autism

Pellicano

Macrae

2009

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Electrophysiological findings from young children with autism suggest that such anomalies are present early in development (Grice et al 2005; cf. also Senju et al 2005). These results imply diminished domain-specific stimulation in autism.…”

Section: Functional Brain Organizationmentioning

confidence: 72%

The study of autism as a distributed disorder

Müller

2007

Ment. Retard. Dev. Disabil. Res. Rev.

173

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Past autism research has often been dedicated to tracing the causes of the disorder to a localized neurological abnormality, a single functional network, or a single cognitive-behavioral domain. In this review, I argue that autism is a 'distributed disorder' on various levels of study (genetic, neuroanatomical, neurofunctional, behavioral). 'Localizing' models are therefore not promising. The large array of potential genetic risk factors suggests that multiple (or all) emerging functional brain networks are affected during early development. This is supported by widespread growth abnormalities throughout the brain. Interactions during development between affected functional networks and atypical experiential effects (associated with atypical behavior) in children with autism further complicate the neurological bases of the disorder, resulting in an 'exponentially distributed' profile. Promising approaches to a better characterization of neural endophenotypes in autism are provided by techniques investigating white matter and connectivity, such as MR spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and functional connectivity MRI. According to a recent hypothesis, the autistic brain is generally characterized by 'underconnectivity'. However, not all findings are consistent with this view. The concepts and methodology of functional connectivity need to be refined and results need to be corroborated by anatomical studies (such as DTI tractography) before definitive conclusions can be drawn.

show abstract

“…The results of recent studies on eye contact processing in ASD are mixed. Some report that eye contact does not affect the speed or accuracy of the gaze direction detection 13 or neurophysiological response to the face 66 , but others report that individuals with ASD elicit stronger neurophysiological 67,68 and physiological 69 responses for direct than for averted gaze. Recent studies 13,14 have demonstrated that individuals with ASD may respond to the psychophysical properties rather than the eye contact defined by the facial configuration ( Figure I).…”

Section: Box 4: Atypical Eye Contact In Individuals With Asdmentioning

confidence: 99%

The eye contact effect: mechanisms and development

Senju

Johnson

2009

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Self Cite

687

674

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The "eye contact effect" is the phenomenon that perceived eye contact with another human face modulates certain aspects of the concurrent and/or immediately following cognitive processing. In addition, functional imaging studies in adults have revealed that eye contact can modulate activity in structures in the social brain network, and developmental studies show evidence for preferential orienting toward, and processing of, faces with direct gaze from early in life. We review different theories of the eye contact effect and advance a 'fast-track modulator' model. Specifically, we hypothesize that perceived eye contact is initially detected by a subcortical route, which then modulates the activation of the social brain as it processes the accompanying detailed sensory information.

show abstract

Deviant gaze processing in children with autism: an ERP study

Cited by 113 publications

References 50 publications

Mutual eye gaze facilitates person categorization for typically developing children, but not for children with autism

Mutual eye gaze facilitates person categorization for typically developing children, but not for children with autism

The study of autism as a distributed disorder

The eye contact effect: mechanisms and development

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About