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SUMMARY:Hypersensitivity to low intensity fearful faces in autism when fix
 ation is constrained to the eyes - Dr Amandine Lassalle\, Postdoctoral Res
 earch Fellow\, MGH / Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging\, Harvard Medi
 cal School
DTSTART:20170426T093000Z
DTEND:20170426T103000Z
UID:TALK71907@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Amber Ruigrok
DESCRIPTION:Previous studies that showed decreased brain activation in peo
 ple with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) viewing expressive faces did not c
 ontrol that participants looked in the eyes. This is problematic because A
 SD is characterized by abnormal attention to the eyes. Here\, we collected
  fMRI data from 48 participants (27 ASD) viewing pictures of neutral faces
  and faces expressing anger\, happiness\, and fear at low and high intensi
 ty\, with a fixation cross between the eyes. Group differences in whole br
 ain activity were examined for expressive faces at high and low intensity 
 vs. neutral faces. Group differences in neural activity were also investig
 ated in regions of interest within the social brain\, including the amygda
 la and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). In response to low inte
 nsity fearful faces\, ASD participants showed increased activation in the 
 social brain regions\, and decreased functional coupling between the amygd
 ala and the vmPFC. This over-arousal to low intensity fear coupled with a 
 lack of emotional regulation capacity could indicate an excitatory/inhibit
 ory imbalance in their socio-affective processing system. This may result 
 in social disengagement and avoidance of eye- contact to handle feelings o
 f over-arousal. Our results also demonstrate the importance of careful con
 trol of gaze when investigating emotional processing in ASD.
LOCATION:Large Meeting Room (groundfloor)\, Douglas House\, 18B\, Trumping
 ton Road
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