Neural correlates of own name and own face processing in neurotypical adults scoring low versus high on symptomatology of autism spectrum disorder

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Danna Oomen
  • Rachida El Kaddouri
  • Marcel Brass
  • Jan R. Wiersema

Previous event-related potential (ERP) research showed reduced self-referential processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As different self-related stimuli were studied in isolation, it is unclear whether findings can be ascribed to a common underlying mechanism. Further, it is unknown whether altered self-referential processing is also evident in neurotypicals scoring high on ASD symptomatology. We compared ERPs in response to one's own name and face (versus other names/faces) between neurotypical adults scoring high versus low on ASD symptomatology. Conform previous research, the parietal P3 was enhanced, both for own name and face, indicating a self-referential effect. The N250 was only enhanced for one's own face. However, the self-referential parietal P3 effect did not correlate between the names and faces conditions, arguing against a common underlying mechanism. No group effects appeared, neither for names nor faces, suggesting that reduced self-referential processing is not a dimensional ASD feature in the neurotypical population.

Original languageEnglish
Article number108358
JournalBiological Psychology
Volume172
ISSN0301-0511
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.07.2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dorine Vlassenroot and Ellen van Keer for their help with recruitment of participants and data collection. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: the primary and secondary authors were supported by the Special Research Fund of Ghent University , project number BOF18/DOC/348 and BOF15/DOC391 , respectively. MB was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2002/1 “Science of Intelligence” – project number 390523135 , and supported by an Einstein Strategic Professorship (Einstein Foundation Berlin).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.

    Research areas

  • Autism spectrum disorder, Event-related potentials (ERPs), Own face, Own name, Self
  • Psychology