| Baron-Cohen, Ring, Wheelwright, et al, 1999 [199] |
6 (4) |
12 (6) |
26.3 ± 2.1 |
25.5 ±2.8 |
Inferred mental states from images of eyes |
↑Frontal-temporal regions; ↓AMY |
Supports amygdala theory of autism |
| Castelli, Frith, Happe, Frith, 2002 [200] |
10** |
10** |
33 ± 7.6 |
25 ± 4.8 |
Viewed animated sequence of geometric shapes |
↓MPFC, STS, temporal poles; Decreased extrastriate functional connectivity |
Possible neurofunctional explanation for impaired mentalizing |
| Dapretto, Davies, Pfeifer, et al, 2006 [201] |
10 (9) |
9 (9) |
12.05 ± 2.5 |
12.38 ± 2.22 |
Imitation and observation of emotional expressions |
↓IFG; Mirror neuron activity inversely related to social symptom severity |
Dysfunctional mirror neuron system may underlie social deficits in autism |
| Kaiser, Hudac, Shultz, et al, 2010 [202] |
25 (20) |
17 (12) (no sibling with ASD); 20 (9) (sibling with ASD) |
11.8 ± 3.6 |
10.9 ± 3.1 (no sibling with ASD); 11.3 ± 28 (sibIing with ASD) |
Viewed biological motion clips and scrambled motion clips |
Differed in right AMY, VMPFC, left VLPFC, right posterior STS, bilateral FG; Controls without ASD sibling differed from other two groups in left DLPFC, right ITG, bilateral FG, CG; Controls with ASD sibling differed from other two groups in right posterior STS, VMPFC |
Identifies non-overlapping regions associated with ASD phenotypes and ASD genetic vulnerability in the absence of ASD symptoms |
| Hadjikhani, Joseph, Manoach, et al, 2009 [203] |
9** |
11 (8) |
30 ± 11 |
31 ± 14 |
Emotion processing of body expressions |
No differential brain activation to bodies expressing fear compared with neutral bodies; ↓FC, Al to emotionally neutral bodies |
Emotion perception deficits in ASD may be due to compromised processing of the emotional component of observed actions |
| Pitskel, Boiling, Hudac et al, 2011 [204] |
15(15) |
14 (13) |
23.4 ± 6.9 |
24.2 ± 7.4 |
Viewed direct and averted gaze of virtual human face |
↓Right TPJ, right Al, left lateral OC; ↑ Left DLPFC |
Brain mechanisms underlying processing gaze direction in ASD |
| Konishi, Nakajima, Uchida, et al, 1999 [205] |
18 (12) |
18 (12) |
38.6 ± 12.4 |
33.0 ± 10.7 |
Imitation inhibition task |
Imitation scores correlated with ↓medial PFC, TPJ |
Highlights contribution of hyperimitation to reduced social cognition |
| Pelphrey, Morris, McCarthy, 2005 [206] |
10 (9) |
9 (8) |
23.2 ± 9.9 |
23.4 ± 5.8 |
Viewing congruent and incongruent eye gaze shifts |
↓STS on incongruent trials |
Lack of STS modulation to congruent and incongruent gaze shifts contributes to eye gaze processing deficits |
| Silani, Bird, Brindley, et al, 2008 [207] |
15 (13) |
15 (13) |
36.6 ± 11.7 |
33.7 ± 10.3 |
Emotion introspection task |
↓Self-reflection/ mentalizing regions (MPPC, ACC, precuneus, inferior OFC, temporal poles, cerebellum) during self introspection; Al activity predicted alexithymia and empathy in both groups |
Alexithymia and empathy deficits linked to anomalous Al actvity |
| Wang, Lee, Sigman, Dapretto, 2007 [208] |
18 (18) |
18 (18) |
12.4 ± 2.9 |
11.8 ± 1.9 |
Processed potentially ironic remarks |
↓MPFC, right STG to irony; MPFC activity in ASD modulated by instructions to attend to faces and tones of voice; MPFC activity inversely related to symptom severity in ASD group |
MPFC mediates understanding the intentions of others |
| Wicker, Fonlupt, Hubert et al, 2008 [209] |
12 (11) |
14 (14) |
27 ± 11 |
23 ± 10 |
Emotion and age discrimination |
↓DMPFC, right VLPFC, right STG; Abnormal connectivity between AMY, VLPFC, DLPFC, posterior occipital-temporal regions |
Abnormal connectivity between structures of the social brain could explain social deficits in ASD |
