Atypical Asymmetry for Processing Human and Robot Faces in Autism Revealed by fNIRS.

ABSTRACT: Deficits in the visual processing of faces in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) individuals may be due to atypical brain organization and function. Studies assessing asymmetric brain function in ASD individuals have suggested that facial processing, which is known to be lateralized in neurotypical (NT) individuals, may be less lateralized in ASD. Here we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to first test this theory by comparing patterns of lateralized brain activity in homologous temporal-occipital facial processing regions during observation of faces in an ASD group and an NT group. As expected, the ASD participants showed reduced right hemisphere asymmetry for human faces, compared to the NT participants. Based on recent behavioral reports suggesting that robots can facilitat

SUBMITTER: Jung CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4936708 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature