1. Sakina Dharsee Psychology - 260

2. Introduction Autism: Developmental disorder, unique profile of social and emotional behavior. Symptomatology: Diminished gaze fixation, lack of social or emotional reciprocity. Previous research: Fusiform gyrus less activated in autistic patients. Deficit: Which circuits are highly activated compared to normal?

3. Hypothesis Fusiform gyrus hypoactivation - Less time fixating on eye regions: Cause or consequence? Hyperactivation in amygdala (region responsible for processing threatening, social and emotional cues)

4. Experimental Task Stimulation: Mock-up of MRI scanner. MRI Scan Eye movement: Eye-tracking device. Study 1: 14 autistic males (M:15.9, SD: 4.71) 12 normal males (M: 17.1, SD: 2.78) Task: Is the picture emotional or neutral? Half straight, half turned. Study 2: 16 autistic males (M:14.5, SD: 4.60) 16 normal males (M: 14.5, SD: 4.56) Task: Is the picture familiar to you? Ten photographs of family or friends.

6. Result Study 1: Autistic group: Longer judgement time for emotional and straight ahead faces. Significantly less time fixating on eyes. More activation in left amygdala. Control group: More activation in bilateral fusiform gyrus. a – Right fusiform gyrus b – Left fusiform gyrus

7. Study 2: Control group: More activation in bilateral fusiform gyrus. Autistic group: Significantly less time fixating on eyes. More activation in right amygdala. No differences in judgement time. Average duration of fixation on mouth, eye region and face in general.

8. Study 2: e – Right amygdalaStudy 1: g – Left amygdala

9. Discussion Individuals with autism scan and process faces differently. Deficits in processing emotional cues and in processing socially engaging faces. Greater amygdala activation in autistic group for both studies. Eye fixation creates a negative over-arousal mediated by the amygdala – diminished gaze fixation reduces this.

10. Negative over-arousal Increased sensitivity to social stimuli Diminished gaze fixation Hypoactivation of fusiform gyrus

11. Strengths and Limitations Strengths: Experimental control. Attempt to reduce performance anxiety. Stimulation session. Limitations: Future directions: - Lateralization of amygdala – left for emotion, right for familiarity? (Baas et al., 2004) - Treatment research: Can autistic patients be trained to scan and process faces normally, resulting in normal levels of fusiform gyrus activation? Based solely on data obtained from males. Inconsistency.

12. Personal Opinion Congruent with previous findings, and makes a new discovery. Research can contribute towards the treatment and counselling of autistic children. Leads into further research on the disorder – what are the circuits associated with other symptoms? Thank You! Any questions?