Processing of Facial Expressions in Autism: a Systematic Review of EEG/ERP Evidence

Authors

Abstract

The aim of this systematic review is to examine electrophysiological differences in emotional facial expres-sion processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We iden-tified 55 articles using PubMed. After application of the rejec-tion criteria, in a two-step procedure, based on abstract and full-text reading, we selected 16 studies for review. We iden-tified group differences and emotion by group interactions in most of the studies during facial emotion-processing tasks. Nine articles reported main effects of facial expression type. Smaller amplitudes and delayed latencies were consistently reported to emotional expressions in ASD subjects compared to controls. Right hemisphere dominance was found in both groups. Our systematic review confirms facial emotion-processing deficits in ASD, which are often linked with emo-tion recognition deficits.

Keywords

ASD,EEG,ERP,Emotion,Facial expression

Journal

Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 4, #4, pp. 255-276 2017

DOI