Individual differences in symptom severity and behavior predict neural activation during face processing in adolescents with autism

Abstract

Despite the impressive literature describing atypical neural activation in visuoperceptual face processing regions in autism, almost nothing is known about whether these perturbations extend to more affective regions in the circuitry and whether they bear any relationship to symptom severity or atypical behavior. Using fMRI, we compared face-, object-, and house-related activation in adolescent males with high-functioning autism (HFA) and typically developing (TD) matched controls. HFA adolescents exhibited hypo-activation throughout the core visuoperceptual regions, particularly in the right hemisphere, as well as in some of the affective/motivational face-processing regions, including the posterior cingulate cortex and right anterior temporal lobe. Conclusions about the relative hyper- or hypo-activation of the amygdala depended on the nature of the contrast that was used to define the activation. Individual differences in symptom severity predicted the magnitude of face activation, particularly in the right fusiform gyrus. Also, among the HFA adolescents, face recognition performance predicted the magnitude of face activation in the right anterior temporal lobe, a region that supports face individuation in TD adults. Our findings reveal a systematic relation between the magnitude of neural dysfunction, severity of autism symptoms, and variation in face recognition behavior in adolescents with autism. In so doing, we uncover brain–behavior relations that underlie one of the most prominent social deficits in autism and help resolve discrepancies in the literature.

Face processing in autism spectrum disorders: From brain regions to brain networks

“…A recent study by Scherf and colleagues (2015) demonstrates a relationship for activation patterns of the FG with symptom severity in ASD, while amygdala activation was related to task type. Specifically, more severe symptoms were related to decreased right FG activity while amygdala activation in ASD was much greater in response to scrambled faces compared to TD adolescents.…”

A theoretical rut: revisiting and critically evaluating the generalized under/over‐connectivity hypothesis of autism

“…For example, we have recently written about the likelihood that adolescence is a developmental period of vulnerability in autism (Picci & Scherf, ), which is supported by both behavioral and neuroimaging findings (e.g. Scherf, Behrmann, Kimchi & Luna, ; Scherf, Luna, Minshew & Behrmann, ; Scherf et al ., ; Whyte et al ., ). Taking a developmental perspective with this in mind could lead to hypotheses about how neural networks are changing in adolescence.…”

Behavioral, perceptual, and neural alterations in sensory and multisensory function in autism spectrum disorder

“…In addition to the well-established deficits in behavioral and perceptual studies of face processing (Boucher and Lewis, 1992; Harms et al, 2010; Papagiannopoulou et al, 2014), numerous imaging studies have shown reduced activation in the fusiform face area (FFA) in individuals with ASD (Corbett et al, 2009; Hubl et al, 2003; Pierce et al, 2001), indicating changes to the ventral visual stream. Indeed, individual differences in the severity of autistic symptoms have been shown to correlate with activation of the FFA, with greater symptom severity negatively correlated with right FFA activity (Scherf et al, 2015). A robust finding in these studies is a reduction in the amount of repetition suppression seen in response to the repeated presentation of faces, again suggestive of altered activation in visual cortical regions involved in face processing (Ewbank et al, 2014; Fiorentini et al, 2012).…”