Differences in neural activity when processing emotional arousal and valence in autism spectrum disorders.

ABSTRACT: Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often have difficulty recognizing and interpreting facial expressions of emotion, which may impair their ability to navigate and communicate successfully in their social, interpersonal environments. Characterizing specific differences between individuals with ASD and their typically developing (TD) counterparts in the neural activity subserving their experience of emotional faces may provide distinct targets for ASD interventions. Thus we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a parametric experimental design to identify brain regions in which neural activity correlated with ratings of arousal and valence for a broad range of emotional faces. Participants (51 ASD, 84 TD) were group-matched by age, sex, IQ, race, and socioecono

SUBMITTER: Tseng A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4734135 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature