Budget Amount *help |
¥5,330,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,230,000)
Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
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Research Abstract |
The hallmark feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is impaired social interaction. It is possible that atypical sensory perception contributes to social cognition impairments in ASD. Thus, the present study was aimed to elucidate how the audiovisual abilities were functionally altered in individuals with ASD by using non-invasive neurophysiological methods such as visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). In VEPs, we found that individuals with ASD have altered automatic visual processing for emotional faces within the lower level of the visual cortex. In NIRS, we demonstrated that a mother's voice modulated the activities of temporal voice and language areas in healthy children but not ASD children. Therefore, we conclude that these audiovisual impairments could be neural basis of the disrupted social cognition observed in individuals with ASD.
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