Ausiological Differences In Emotional Processing In...
Although there is a continuous debate, it is commonly assumed that emotion recognition difficulties
are present in individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (Uljarevic Hamilton, 2013). In this
review several neuroimaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological (EEG) papers of facial processing are
reviewed in attempt to explore neurological differences in emotional processing in people with ASD
(Table.1)
There are relatively few studies carried out measuring electrophysiology, specifically the event related
potentials (ERP) compare to fMRI studies, in the field of emotional processing. ERP is measuring
current cortical activity, while fMRI subcortical activity e.g. amygdala. The use of eye tracking
devices in fMRI studies allow to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Predominantly all fMRI studies show reduced activity in amygdala area, area associated with
emotional processing, including FER (Ashwin, Baron Cohen, Wheelwright, O Riordan Bullmore,
2007; Pelphrey, Morris, McCarthy LaBar, 2007) and neutral face processing (Hadjikhani, Joseph,
Snyder Tager Flusberg, 2007). Reviewed Corbett et al. 2009 findings are consistent with the majority,
while Dalton et al. 2005, same as Monk et al., 2010 did found higher activation in amygdala (see table
3). Interestingly, Monk et al. 2010, to insure participants attended to faces, did use an attention cueing
paradigm (Monk et al., 2010). Overall, evidence suggests that there is decreased automatic activation
of amygdala when emotional faces are processed, although there is a possibility of this be due to
diminished attention to faces (Harms, Martin Wallace, 2010).
Previously reported increase in attention load (Wang, Dapretto, Hariri, Sigman Bookheimer, 2004)
may help to explain the amount of variance in left amygdala activation between AS (52%) and control
group (3%) and right anterior fusiform, AS (56%) versus control group (22%) (Dalton et al., 2005).
Nevertheless, abnormalities in ASD during FER can be observed in variety of brain regions apart from
FG and amygdala e.g. cerebellum (Critchley et al., 2000), inferior frontal gyrus (Greimel et al., 2010),
orbito frontal and medial frontal cortices (Loveland, Steinberg, Pearson, Reddoch Mansour, 2008).
... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...