Brain Mechanisms of Affective Language Comprehension in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Abstract
Profound deficits in the domain of social communication are a hallmark of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). These difficulties in social communication can have devastating effects for both individuals with autism and their loved ones as they negatively impact the ability to form and maintain relationships (Baron-Cohen, 1988; Dawson and Bernier, 2007). Difficulty understanding others emotions is central to the social communicative difficulties in ASD. Research suggests deficits in emotion processing are greatest in the perception and comprehension of others emotions (e.g., Sigman et al., 1992; Losh and Capps, 2006). One mechanism by which comprehension of others emotions is achieved is through the association of a verbal label or visual cue (e.g. facial expression) to ones own emotion during development. Failure to associate the appropriate label with the emotion may lead to difficulties inferring another persons emotions from context. Difficulties in emotion processing have been studied extensively in the visual domain through primarily perception of emotional expressions but relatively little is known about brain mechanisms underlying a failure to infer emotions from verbal context.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1047230
Entities
People
- Donald J. Bolger
Organizations
- University of Maryland