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Eye-Tracking, Autonomic, and Electrophysiological Correlates of Emotional Face Processing in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty with social-emotional cues. This study examined the neural, behavioral, and autonomic correlates of emotional face processing in adolescents with ASD and typical development (TD) using eye-tracking and event-related potentials (ERPs) across two different paradigms. Scanning of faces was similar across groups in the first task, but the second task found that face-sensitive ERPs varied with emotional expressions only in TD. Further, ASD showed enhanced neural responding to non-social stimuli. In TD only, attention to eyes during eye-tracking related to faster face-sensitive ERPs in a separate task; in ASD, a significant positive association was found between autonomic activity and attention to mouths. Overall, ASD showed an atypical pattern of emotional face processing, with reduced neural differentiation between emotions and a reduced relationship between gaze behavior and neural processing of faces.

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Acknowledgments

This research was made possible by a grant from the Autism Consortium for a multi-site, multi-modal study (in collaboration with Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Massachusetts General Hospital). We would like to thank our many collaborators across sites who contributed to study conception and design, including John Gabrieli, Robert Joseph, Nancy Kanwisher, Tal Kenet, Pawan Sinha, and Helen Tager-Flusberg. This work was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the APA and all the authors concur with the contents of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, 1 Autumn Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Jennifer B. Wagner, Suzanna B. Hirsch, Vanessa K. Vogel-Farley & Charles A. Nelson

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Jennifer B. Wagner & Charles A. Nelson

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Elizabeth Redcay

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  1. Jennifer B. Wagner
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  2. Suzanna B. Hirsch
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Correspondence to Jennifer B. Wagner.

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Wagner, J.B., Hirsch, S.B., Vogel-Farley, V.K. et al. Eye-Tracking, Autonomic, and Electrophysiological Correlates of Emotional Face Processing in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 188–199 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1565-1

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