AUTHOR=Vukusic Svjetlana , Ciorciari Joseph , Crewther David P. 

TITLE=Electrophysiological Correlates of Subliminal Perception of Facial Expressions in Individuals with Autistic Traits: A Backward Masking Study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2017

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00256

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2017.00256

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=People with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show difficulty in social communication, especially in the rapid assessment of emotion in faces. This study examined the processing of emotional faces in typically developing adults with high and low levels of autistic traits (measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient - AQ). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during viewing of subliminal (16 ms) and supraliminal (166 ms) presentations of neutral, fearful and happy faces, backward-masked by abstract patterns. Results indicated that individuals with low and high AQ differ in the processing of subconscious faces, with the low AQ group showing enhanced N2 amplitude for subconscious happy faces. Although results did not show any group differences on the face-specific N170 component, there were faster N170 latencies under supraliminal than under subliminal condition. The N170 showed right lateralization only in the Low AQ group. Some group differences were found in processing of subliminal and supraliminal stimuli, with the High AQ showing increased N2 amplitudes for the subliminal condition, whereas the Low AQ showed shorter frontal P3b and fronto-central N4 latencies for subliminal stimuli. The results observed on the N2, showing group differences in subliminal emotion processing, suggest that decreased sensitivity to reward value of social stimuli can be seen not only in people with ASD but also in those with high autistic traits.