| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
GOUMA Hideyo Hyogo University of Teacher Educatin, Department of School Education, Professor, 学校教育学部, 教授 (40234968)
KONISHI Kenzo Kibi International University, Faculty of Social Welfare, Professor, 社会福祉学部, 教授 (60068583)
OKITA Tunetaka Sapporo Gakuin University, Faculty of Social Information, Professor, 社会情報学部, 教授 (70068542)
ISAWA Sinzo Hyogo University of Teacher Educatin, Department of School Education, Research Associate, 学校教育学部, 助手 (50324950)
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| Research Abstract |
The objective of this study investigate a time-series analysis of human-face recognition processes in autistic persons from the viewpoint of psychophysiology. In this study we measured face-specific event-related potentials (face-related potentials), which have been studied extensively in recent years.
In 2000, we investigate a fundamental study on healthy persons in order to explore the optimal conditions for measuring potentials in autistic persons. Using the conditions arrived at through the fundamental study, we measured face-related potentials from children (4 years old) to adults. It was found that (1) the N170, which is a face-related potential, is seen in 4 year-old children, and that its latent period shortens and its amplitude increases with age, and (2) the N270, which is related to the recognition of known faces, is immature in pre-school children. In 2001 and 2002, we measured face-related potentials in autistic persons and analyzed the results on the basis of the previously obtained results mentioned above. It was found that, although the N170 did increase in autistic persons, they tended not to be able to clearly distinguish human faces from non-face stimuli. In addition, analysis of the amplitudes of T5 and T6 suggested that specialization of the visual cortices in the left and right hemispheres of the brain in autistic persons might not have progressed sufficiently. Analysis of the N270 suggested that autistic persons have some types of processing difficulties during the activation processes of the face recognition unit. On the basis of these results, we gave preliminary consideration to methods for overcoming the difficulties of interpersonal communication in autistic persons.
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