Autism-like atypical face processing in <i>Shank3</i> mutant dogs.

ABSTRACT: Atypical face processing is a neurocognitive basis of social deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a candidate cognitive marker for the disease. Although hundreds of risk genes have been identified in ASD, it remains unclear whether mutations in a specific gene may cause ASD-like atypical face processing. Dogs have acquired exquisite face processing abilities during domestication and may serve as an effective animal model for studying genetic associations of ASD-like atypical face processing. Here, we showed that dogs with Shank3 mutations exhibited behavioral and attentional avoidance of faces, contrasting with wild-type controls. Moreover, neural responses specific to faces (versus objects) recorded from the electrodes over the temporal cortex were significantly decreased

SUBMITTER: Yuan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11963970 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature