Spontaneous Visual Preference for Face-Like Stimuli Is Impaired in Newly-Hatched Domestic Chicks Exposed to Valproic Acid During Embryogenesis

Abstract

Faces convey a great amount of socially relevant information related to emotional and mental states, identity and intention. Processing of face information is a key mechanism for social and cognitive development, such that newborn babies are already tuned to recognize and orient to faces and simple schematic face-like patterns since the first hours of life. Similar to neonates, also non-human primates and domestic chicks have been shown to express orienting responses to faces and schematic face-like patterns. More importantly, existing studies have hypothesized that early disturbances of these mechanisms represent one of the earliest biomarker of social deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We used VPA exposure to induce neurodevelopmental changes associated with ASD in domestic chicks and tested whether VPA could impact the expression of the animals' approach responses to schematic face-like stimuli. We found that VPA impairs the chicks' preference responses to these social stimuli. Based on the results shown here and on previous studies, we propose the domestic chick as animal model to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying face processing deficits in ASD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; brain development; face processing; social predispositions; sodium valproate.