Nomi Jason S, Uddin Lucina Q
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States.
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, United States; Neuroscience Program, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, United States.
Neuropsychologia. 2015 May;71:201-16. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.03.029. Epub 2015 Mar 28.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by reduced attention to social stimuli including the human face. This hypo-responsiveness to stimuli that are engaging to typically developing individuals may result from dysfunctioning motivation, reward, and attention systems in the brain. Here we review an emerging neuroimaging literature that emphasizes a shift from focusing on hypo-activation of isolated brain regions such as the fusiform gyrus, amygdala, and superior temporal sulcus in ASD to a more holistic approach to understanding face perception as a process supported by distributed cortical and subcortical brain networks. We summarize evidence for atypical activation patterns within brain networks that may contribute to social deficits characteristic of the disorder. We conclude by pointing to gaps in the literature and future directions that will continue to shed light on aspects of face processing in autism that are still under-examined. In particular, we highlight the need for more developmental studies and studies examining ecologically valid and naturalistic social stimuli.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特征是对包括人脸在内的社会刺激的注意力降低。这种对典型发育个体具有吸引力的刺激反应不足，可能是由于大脑中的动机、奖励和注意力系统功能失调所致。在此，我们回顾了新兴的神经影像学文献，这些文献强调了研究重点的转变，即从关注ASD中孤立脑区（如梭状回、杏仁核和颞上沟）的激活不足，转向以更全面的方法来理解面部感知，将其视为一个由分布式皮层和皮层下脑网络支持的过程。我们总结了脑网络内非典型激活模式的证据，这些模式可能导致该障碍特有的社交缺陷。最后，我们指出文献中的空白以及未来的研究方向，这些将继续阐明自闭症中仍未得到充分研究的面部处理方面。特别是，我们强调需要更多的发育研究以及研究生态有效和自然主义的社会刺激的研究。
