Cited by 38Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchFace Recognition and PerceptionNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Altered behavioral and amygdala habituation in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study

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Tam, Friederike I., King, Joseph A., Geisler, Daniel, Korb, Franziska M., Sareng, Juliane, Ritschel, Franziska, Steding, Julius, Albertowski, Katja U. +2 more·2017·Scientific Reports

Abstract

Habituation to repeatedly presented stimuli is an important adaptive property of the nervous system. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been associated with reduced neural habituation, for example in the amygdala, which may be related to social impairments. The main focus of this study was to investigate habituation effects on the level of behavioral responses as well as amygdala responses in adults with ASD during a working memory task flanked by task-irrelevant face stimuli. Twenty-two patients with high-functioning autism and 24 healthy controls (HC) were included in this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. We employed an established habituation index to investigate habituation effects. Suggestive of altered habituation, the habituation index showed a decrement of reaction time over the course of the experiment in the HC but not in the ASD group. Similarly, an expected pattern of habituation was evident in amygdala activation in HC but absent in ASD participants. These results provide evidence that habituation may be altered not only on a neural, but also on a behavioral level in ASD. While more research is needed to develop a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms, the current findings support the possibility that deficient habituation may be a biomarker of ASD.

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  • Tam et al. (2017) found only non-autistic adults exhibited repetition suppression in the amygdala for faces.

    “Tam et al. (2017) found only non-autistic adults exhibited repetition suppression in the amygdala for faces.”

    From Are prediction error modifications domain specific in autism but domain general in ADHD? (2025) · cites this paper as Tam et al. (2017)

    The Discussion reports a lack of amygdala habituation to face distractors in adults with ASD, consistent with the claimed group difference. But it treats repetition suppression as a related phenomenon that future event-related studies could examine; this study measured habituation, not repetition suppression (Discussion; page unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Tam, F. I., King, J. A., Geisler, D., Korb, F. M., Sareng, J., Ritschel, F., Steding, J., Albertowski, K. U., Roessner, V., & Ehrlich, S.
Affiliations
  • University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus (DE)
  • Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
  • TransDeN Lab (DE)
Corresponding author
Ehrlich, Stefan
Venue
Scientific Reports
Published
2017-10-19
Volume
7
Issue
1
Pages
13611-13611
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2761287321
Cited by
38
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
FWCI
2.36
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  • Technische Universität Dresden
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, high-functioning autism, neural habituation, amygdala, face stimuli, working memory task, reaction time, social dysfunction, biomarkers
MeSH terms
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adult, Amygdala, Brain, Female, Habituation, Psychophysiologic, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Linear Models, Case-Control Studies, Young Adult

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