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Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Eye contact plays a key role in social interaction and is frequently reported to be atypical in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Despite the importance of direct gaze, previous functional magnetic resonance imaging in ASC has generally focused on paradigms using averted gaze. The...

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Autores principales: von dem Hagen, Elisabeth A.H., Stoyanova, Raliza S., Rowe, James B., Baron-Cohen, Simon, Calder, Andrew J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4014180/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23324559
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht003
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author von dem Hagen, Elisabeth A.H.
Stoyanova, Raliza S.
Rowe, James B.
Baron-Cohen, Simon
Calder, Andrew J.
author_facet von dem Hagen, Elisabeth A.H.
Stoyanova, Raliza S.
Rowe, James B.
Baron-Cohen, Simon
Calder, Andrew J.
author_sort von dem Hagen, Elisabeth A.H.
collection PubMed
description Eye contact plays a key role in social interaction and is frequently reported to be atypical in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Despite the importance of direct gaze, previous functional magnetic resonance imaging in ASC has generally focused on paradigms using averted gaze. The current study sought to determine the neural processing of faces displaying direct and averted gaze in 18 males with ASC and 23 matched controls. Controls showed an increased response to direct gaze in brain areas implicated in theory-of-mind and gaze perception, including medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus region, and amygdala. In contrast, the same regions showed an increased response to averted gaze in individuals with an ASC. This difference was confirmed by a significant gaze direction × group interaction. Relative to controls, participants with ASC also showed reduced functional connectivity between these regions. We suggest that, in the typical brain, perceiving another person gazing directly at you triggers spontaneous attributions of mental states (e.g. he is “interested” in me), and that such mental state attributions to direct gaze may be reduced or absent in the autistic brain.
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spelling pubmed-40141802014-05-12 Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions von dem Hagen, Elisabeth A.H. Stoyanova, Raliza S. Rowe, James B. Baron-Cohen, Simon Calder, Andrew J. Cereb Cortex Articles Eye contact plays a key role in social interaction and is frequently reported to be atypical in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs). Despite the importance of direct gaze, previous functional magnetic resonance imaging in ASC has generally focused on paradigms using averted gaze. The current study sought to determine the neural processing of faces displaying direct and averted gaze in 18 males with ASC and 23 matched controls. Controls showed an increased response to direct gaze in brain areas implicated in theory-of-mind and gaze perception, including medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus region, and amygdala. In contrast, the same regions showed an increased response to averted gaze in individuals with an ASC. This difference was confirmed by a significant gaze direction × group interaction. Relative to controls, participants with ASC also showed reduced functional connectivity between these regions. We suggest that, in the typical brain, perceiving another person gazing directly at you triggers spontaneous attributions of mental states (e.g. he is “interested” in me), and that such mental state attributions to direct gaze may be reduced or absent in the autistic brain. Oxford University Press 2014-06 2013-01-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4014180/ /pubmed/23324559 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht003 Text en © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Articles
von dem Hagen, Elisabeth A.H.
Stoyanova, Raliza S.
Rowe, James B.
Baron-Cohen, Simon
Calder, Andrew J.
Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions
title Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions
title_full Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions
title_fullStr Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions
title_full_unstemmed Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions
title_short Direct Gaze Elicits Atypical Activation of the Theory-of-Mind Network in Autism Spectrum Conditions
title_sort direct gaze elicits atypical activation of the theory-of-mind network in autism spectrum conditions
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4014180/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23324559
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht003
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