Effects of spatially filtered fearful faces and awareness on amygdala activity in adults with autism spectrum disorder: A magnetoencephalography study

Toshihiko Maekawa; Toshihide Kuroki; Mutsuhide Tanaka; Katsuya Ogata; Takao Yamasaki; Teppei Matsubara; Shozo Tobimatsu

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137135

Effects of spatially filtered fearful faces and awareness on amygdala activity in adults with autism spectrum disorder: A magnetoencephalography study

Neurosci Lett. 2023 Mar 13:800:137135. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137135. Epub 2023 Feb 18.

Authors

Toshihiko Maekawa¹, Toshihide Kuroki², Mutsuhide Tanaka³, Katsuya Ogata³, Takao Yamasaki⁴, Teppei Matsubara⁵, Shozo Tobimatsu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. Electronic address: hiko.maekawa@gmail.com.
² Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; Department of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
³ Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; Department of Neurology, Minkodo Minohara Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.
⁵ Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States.

PMID: 36804074
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137135

Abstract

Background: The amygdala is pivotal in emotional face processing. Spatial frequencies (SFs) of visual images are divided and processed via two visual pathways: low spatial frequency (LSF) information is conveyed by the magnocellular pathway, while the parvocellular pathway carries high spatial frequency information. We hypothesized that altered amygdala activity might underlie atypical social communication caused by changes in both conscious and non-conscious emotional face processing in the brain in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Method: Eighteen adults with ASD and 18 typically developing (TD) peers participated in this study. Spatially filtered fearful- and neutral-expression faces and object stimuli were presented under supraliminal or subliminal conditions, and neuromagnetic responses in the amygdala were measured using 306-channel whole-head magnetoencephalography.

Results: The latency of the evoked responses at approximately 200 ms to unfiltered neutral face stimuli and object stimuli in the ASD group was shorter than that in the TD group in the unaware condition. Regarding emotional face processing, the evoked responses in the ASD group were larger than those in the TD group under the aware condition. The later positive shift during 200-500 ms (ARV) was larger than that in the TD group, regardless of awareness. Moreover, ARV to HSF face stimuli was larger than that to the other spatial filtered face stimuli in the aware condition.

Conclusion: Regardless of awareness, ARV might reflect atypical face information processing in the ASD brain.

Keywords: Amygdala; Autism spectrum disorder; Awareness; Magnetoencephalography; Spatially filtered face.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Amygdala
Autism Spectrum Disorder* / psychology
Emotions / physiology
Facial Expression
Fear
Humans
Magnetoencephalography*