Preserved first-order configural and holistic face processing in high-functioning adults with autism: an EEG/ERP study P Tavares, S Mouga, G Oliveira, M Castelo-Branco |
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IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal
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| People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have marked deficits in the social domain, most notably in face perception. According to current models, there are at least three levels of face processing: first-order (two eyes, above a nose, which is above a mouth), second-order (the relative distance between features) and holistic (ability to recognize as faces images that lack distinctive facial features). We used event-related potentials (ERPs) in 9 high-functioning adults with ASD and 14 healthy controls, during a face decision task, using photographic, schematic and Mooney upright and inverted faces, and control scrambled images, to determine whether people with ASD are generically impaired in facial configural processing or whether this impairment is selective to specific levels of configural processing. Behaviorally, there were no differences in performance between ASD and healthy controls. At the electrophysiological level subjects with ASD displayed a normal N170 inversion effect (being significant bilaterally). Processing differences between ASD and controls in the N170 amplitude and latency obtained in Photographic, Schematic and Mooney faces could all be explained away by using IQ measures as covariates. We conclude that the ASD group shows sparing of first-order configural and holistic face processing when cognitive levels are taken into account. |
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