Unité Inserm 1000, service de radiologie pédiatrique, hôpital Necker-Enfants-Malades, AP-HP, université Paris V René-Descartes, 149, rue de Sèvres, 75015 Paris cedex 15, France.
Rev Neurol (Paris). 2012 Oct;168(10):762-70. doi: 10.1016/j.neurol.2012.07.017. Epub 2012 Sep 13.
The most common clinical sign of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is social interaction impairment, which is associated with communication deficits and stereotyped behaviors. Based on brain-imaging results, our hypothesis is that abnormalities in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) are highly implicated in ASD. These abnormalities are characterized by decreased grey matter concentration, rest hypoperfusion and abnormal activation during social tasks. STS anatomofunctional anomalies occurring early across brain development could constitute the first step in the cascade of neural dysfunctions underlying autism. It is known that STS is highly implicated on social perception processing, from perception of biological movements, such as body movements or eye gaze, to more complex social cognition processes. Among the impairments that can be described in social perception processing, eye gaze perception is particularly relevant in autism. Gaze abnormalities can now be objectively measured using eye-tracking methodology. In the present work, we will review recent data on STS contributions to normal social cognition and its implication in autism, with particular focus on eye gaze perception.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）最常见的临床特征是社交互动障碍，其与沟通缺陷和刻板行为有关。基于脑成像结果，我们假设颞上沟（STS）的异常与 ASD 高度相关。这些异常的特征是灰质浓度降低、静息灌注不足以及在执行社交任务时异常激活。在大脑发育早期发生的 STS 解剖功能异常可能是构成自闭症神经功能障碍级联的第一步。众所周知，STS 高度参与社交感知处理，从对生物运动的感知，如身体运动或眼球运动，到更复杂的社交认知过程。在可描述的社交感知处理损伤中，眼球注视感知在自闭症中尤为重要。现在可以使用眼动追踪方法来客观测量注视异常。在本工作中，我们将回顾 STS 对正常社交认知的贡献及其在自闭症中的意义的最新数据，特别关注眼球注视感知。
