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Cited by 277Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchFace Recognition and PerceptionChild and Animal Learning Development

Young children with autism show atypical brain responses to fearful versus neutral facial expressions of emotion

Dawson, Geraldine, Webb, Sara J., Carver, Leslie, Panagiotides, Heracles, McPartland, James·2004·Developmental Science
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00352.x
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Abstract

Evidence suggests that autism is associated with impaired emotion perception, but it is unknown how early such impairments are evident. Furthermore, most studies that have assessed emotion perception in children with autism have required verbal responses, making results difficult to interpret. This study utilized high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether 3-4-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show differential brain activity to fear versus neutral facial expressions. It has been shown that normal infants as young as 7 months of age show differential brain responses to faces expressing different emotions. ERPs were recorded while children passively viewed photos of an unfamiliar woman posing a neutral and a prototypic fear expression. The sample consisted of 29 3-4-year-old children with ASD and 22 chronological age-matched children with typical development. Typically developing children exhibited a larger early negative component (N300) to the fear than to the neutral face. In contrast, children with ASD did not show the difference in amplitude of this early ERP component to the fear versus neutral face. For a later component, typically developing children exhibited a larger negative slow wave (NSW) to the fear than to the neutral face, whereas children with autism did not show a differential NSW to the two stimuli. In children with ASD, faster speed of early processing (i. e. N300 latency) of the fear face was associated with better performance on tasks assessing social attention (social orienting, joint attention and attention to distress). These data suggest that children with ASD, as young as 3 years of age, show a disordered pattern of neural responses to emotional stimuli.

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  • Dawson et al. (2004) found weaker differential responses to fear and neutral faces in ASD children compared to controls.

    “In a follow-up study, Dawson, Webb, Carver, Panagiotides, and McPartland (2004) found weaker differential responses to fear and neutral faces in ASD children compared to controls.”

    From Vision in autism spectrum disorders (2009) · cites this paper as Dawson et al. (2004)

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Authors
Dawson, G., Webb, S. J., Carver, L., Panagiotides, H., & McPartland, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Washington (US)
  • University of California San Diego (US)
ORCID
Venue
Developmental Science
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2004-05-17
Volume
7
Issue
3
Pages
340-359
ISSN
  • 1363-755X (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-7687
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-7687.2004.00352.x
OpenAlex
W2160308178
Cited by
277
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 26
FWCI
5.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Developmental Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01 HD 34565)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Keywords
autism spectrum disorder, emotion perception, event-related potentials, N300, social attention, joint attention, social orienting, young children, neural correlates of emotion
MeSH terms
Autistic Disorder, Behavior, Brain, Child, Preschool, Electrodes, Emotions, Evoked Potentials, Face, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Neurons, Recognition, Psychology

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