Amygdala’s Role in Reflexive Orienting on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Amygdala’s Role in Reflexive Orienting on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Conditions Dorit Kliemann1*, Isabel Dziobek1, 2, Alexander El-Hatri2, 3, Jürgen Baudewig1 and Hauke R. Heekeren1, 2, 3 1 Freie Universität Berlin, Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion", Germany 2 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Research Group "Neurocognition of Decision Making", Germany 3 Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Eduation and Psychology, Germany When processing faces subjects on the autism spectrum (ASC) focus less on the eyes than typically developed controls (NT). A 2-component model (Spezio et al., 2007) suggests that ASC specific gaze patterns on faces might reflect both an avoidance of and a missing orientation to eye contact. On the neural level, reflexive orientation to the eyes in NT is reflected by an increase of amygdala activity (Gamer & Büchel, 2009), whereas findings about amygdala activation and face processing in ASC remain contradictory. We tested whether ASC (a) fail to orient to the eyes, accompanied by a decrease of amygdala activity and (b) show a tendency to gaze away from the eyes, accompanied by an increase of amygdala activity. Using fMRI and eye tracking, we monitored participants while they performed a facial emotion-discrimination task, in which fearful, happy, and neutral faces were presented for 150ms with fixation starting either at the eyes or the mouth. ASC showed a reduced orientation towards the eyes and a decrease of amygdala activation whereas NT clearly oriented towards the eyes, accompanied by an increase of amygdala activation. When starting fixation on the eyes, ASC showed a strong tendency to gaze away from the eyes. The corresponding greater response in the amygdala is in line with the avoidance component. The current results emphasize the specific role of the amygdala in adequately processing social information via mediating orientation toward social cues. Keywords: Amygdala, autism spectrum conditions, gaze, Social Decision Making Conference: Decision Neuroscience From Neurons to Societies, Berlin, Germany, 23 Sep - 25 Sep, 2010. Presentation Type: Poster Topic: Perceptual Decision Making Citation: Kliemann D, Dziobek I, El-Hatri A, Baudewig J and Heekeren HR (2010). Amygdala’s Role in Reflexive Orienting on Emotional Faces in Autism Spectrum Conditions. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Decision Neuroscience From Neurons to Societies. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.82.00015 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 13 Aug 2010; Published Online: 07 Sep 2010. * Correspondence: Miss. Dorit Kliemann, Freie Universität Berlin, Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion", Berlin, Germany, dorit@caltech.edu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Dorit Kliemann Isabel Dziobek Alexander El-Hatri Jürgen Baudewig Hauke R Heekeren Google Dorit Kliemann Isabel Dziobek Alexander El-Hatri Jürgen Baudewig Hauke R Heekeren Google Scholar Dorit Kliemann Isabel Dziobek Alexander El-Hatri Jürgen Baudewig Hauke R Heekeren PubMed Dorit Kliemann Isabel Dziobek Alexander El-Hatri Jürgen Baudewig Hauke R Heekeren Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.