TY - JOUR
T1 - Top-down and bottom-up visual information processing of non-social stimuli in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder
AU - Maekawa, Toshihiko
AU - Tobimatsu, Shozo
AU - Inada, Naoko
AU - Oribe, Naoya
AU - Onitsuka, Toshiaki
AU - Kanba, Shigenobu
AU - Kamio, Yoko
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by grants from the Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society, Japan (RISTEX), the Naito Foundation and the Sankyo Foundation of Life Science.
PY - 2011/1
Y1 - 2011/1
N2 - Individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) often show superior performance in simple visual tasks, despite difficulties in the perception of socially important information such as facial expression. The neural basis of visual perception abnormalities associated with HF-ASD is currently unclear. We sought to elucidate the functioning of bottom-up and top-down visual information processing in HF-ASD using event-related potentials (ERPs). Eleven adults with HF-ASD and 11 age-matched normal controls (NC) participated in this study. Visual ERPs were recorded using 128-channel EEG. The P1 and P300 were recorded in response to target stimuli. Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) potentials were obtained by subtracting responses to standard from those to deviant stimuli. Behaviorally, individuals with HF-ASD showed faster target detection than NCs. However, vMMN amplitude and latency were the same between the two groups. In contrast, P1 and P300 amplitudes were significantly decreased in HF-ASD compared with NCs. In addition, P300 latency was significantly delayed in HF-ASD. Individuals with HF-ASD exhibit altered visual information processing. Intact bottom-up attention (vMMN) may contribute to their superior simple visual task performance in spite of abnormal low-level (P1) and top-down (P300) visual information processing.
AB - Individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) often show superior performance in simple visual tasks, despite difficulties in the perception of socially important information such as facial expression. The neural basis of visual perception abnormalities associated with HF-ASD is currently unclear. We sought to elucidate the functioning of bottom-up and top-down visual information processing in HF-ASD using event-related potentials (ERPs). Eleven adults with HF-ASD and 11 age-matched normal controls (NC) participated in this study. Visual ERPs were recorded using 128-channel EEG. The P1 and P300 were recorded in response to target stimuli. Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) potentials were obtained by subtracting responses to standard from those to deviant stimuli. Behaviorally, individuals with HF-ASD showed faster target detection than NCs. However, vMMN amplitude and latency were the same between the two groups. In contrast, P1 and P300 amplitudes were significantly decreased in HF-ASD compared with NCs. In addition, P300 latency was significantly delayed in HF-ASD. Individuals with HF-ASD exhibit altered visual information processing. Intact bottom-up attention (vMMN) may contribute to their superior simple visual task performance in spite of abnormal low-level (P1) and top-down (P300) visual information processing.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.rasd.2010.03.012
DO - 10.1016/j.rasd.2010.03.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77957345145
SN - 1750-9467
VL - 5
SP - 201
EP - 209
JO - Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
JF - Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
IS - 1
ER -
