Patterns of neural activity in response to threatening faces are predictive of autistic traits: modulatory effects of oxytocin receptor genotype.

ABSTRACT: Autistic individuals generally demonstrate impaired emotion recognition but it is unclear whether effects are emotion-specific or influenced by oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genotype. Here we implemented a dimensional approach using an implicit emotion recognition task together with functional MRI in a large cohort of neurotypical adult participants (N = 255, male = 131, aged 17-29 years) to establish associations between autistic traits and neural and behavioral responses to specific face emotions, together with modulatory effects of OXTR genotype. A searchlight-based multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) revealed an extensive network of frontal, basal ganglia, cingulate and limbic regions exhibiting significant predictability for autistic traits from patterns of responses to angry relative to

SUBMITTER: Zheng X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10980722 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature