Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism
Abstract Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) seem to have difficulties looking others in the eyes, but the substrate for this behavior is not well understood. The subcortical pathway, which consists of superior colliculus, pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, and amygdala, enables rapid and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03378-5 |
| _version_ | 1818841188813242368 |
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| author | Nouchine Hadjikhani Jakob Åsberg Johnels Nicole R. Zürcher Amandine Lassalle Quentin Guillon Loyse Hippolyte Eva Billstedt Noreen Ward Eric Lemonnier Christopher Gillberg |
| author_facet | Nouchine Hadjikhani Jakob Åsberg Johnels Nicole R. Zürcher Amandine Lassalle Quentin Guillon Loyse Hippolyte Eva Billstedt Noreen Ward Eric Lemonnier Christopher Gillberg |
| author_sort | Nouchine Hadjikhani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) seem to have difficulties looking others in the eyes, but the substrate for this behavior is not well understood. The subcortical pathway, which consists of superior colliculus, pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, and amygdala, enables rapid and automatic face processing. A specific component of this pathway – i.e., the amygdala – has been shown to be abnormally activated in paradigms where individuals had to specifically attend to the eye-region; however, a direct examination of the effect of manipulating the gaze to the eye-regions on all the components of the subcortical system altogether has never been performed. The subcortical system is particularly important as it shapes the functional specialization of the face-processing cortex during development. Using functional MRI, we investigated the effect of constraining gaze in the eye-region during dynamic emotional face perception in groups of participants with ASD and typical controls. We computed differences in activation in the subcortical face processing system (superior colliculus, pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus and amygdala) for the same stimuli seen freely or with the gaze constrained in the eye-region. Our results show that when constrained to look in the eyes, individuals with ASD show abnormally high activation in the subcortical system, which may be at the basis of their eye avoidance in daily life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T04:22:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8dc1c5530b1b499684875ea86f872493 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T04:22:07Z |
| publishDate | 2017-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-8dc1c5530b1b499684875ea86f8724932022-12-21T20:36:08ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-06-01711710.1038/s41598-017-03378-5Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autismNouchine Hadjikhani0Jakob Åsberg Johnels1Nicole R. Zürcher2Amandine Lassalle3Quentin Guillon4Loyse Hippolyte5Eva Billstedt6Noreen Ward7Eric Lemonnier8Christopher Gillberg9MGH/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical SchoolGillberg Neuropsychiatry Center, Gothenburg UniversityMGH/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical SchoolMGH/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical SchoolLyon Neuroscience Research Center, Brain Dynamics and Cognition TeamService de Génétique Médicale, University of LausanneGillberg Neuropsychiatry Center, Gothenburg UniversityMGH/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical SchoolCRAGillberg Neuropsychiatry Center, Gothenburg UniversityAbstract Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) seem to have difficulties looking others in the eyes, but the substrate for this behavior is not well understood. The subcortical pathway, which consists of superior colliculus, pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, and amygdala, enables rapid and automatic face processing. A specific component of this pathway – i.e., the amygdala – has been shown to be abnormally activated in paradigms where individuals had to specifically attend to the eye-region; however, a direct examination of the effect of manipulating the gaze to the eye-regions on all the components of the subcortical system altogether has never been performed. The subcortical system is particularly important as it shapes the functional specialization of the face-processing cortex during development. Using functional MRI, we investigated the effect of constraining gaze in the eye-region during dynamic emotional face perception in groups of participants with ASD and typical controls. We computed differences in activation in the subcortical face processing system (superior colliculus, pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus and amygdala) for the same stimuli seen freely or with the gaze constrained in the eye-region. Our results show that when constrained to look in the eyes, individuals with ASD show abnormally high activation in the subcortical system, which may be at the basis of their eye avoidance in daily life.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03378-5 |
| spellingShingle | Nouchine Hadjikhani Jakob Åsberg Johnels Nicole R. Zürcher Amandine Lassalle Quentin Guillon Loyse Hippolyte Eva Billstedt Noreen Ward Eric Lemonnier Christopher Gillberg Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism Scientific Reports |
| title | Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism |
| title_full | Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism |
| title_fullStr | Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism |
| title_short | Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism |
| title_sort | look me in the eyes constraining gaze in the eye region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03378-5 |
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