Neural Substrates of Gaze and Face Processing in Autism

Boston University Medical Campus, Boston MA

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Linked publications & trials

Abstract

This application is for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) entitled Neural Substrates of Gaze and Face Processing in Autism. A failure to attend to and respond appropriately to other people's faces is one of the most salient behavioral features of autism. In particular, individuals with autism exhibit reduced attention to eyes and deficiencies in encoding and recognition of the eye region of the face. The goal of this project is to use state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques to assess the neurofunctional and structural integrity of the brain circuitry subserving gaze and face processing in autism. Aim 1 will combine functional MRI with diffusion tensor imaging to assess abnormalities of neurofunctional activity in relation to disturbances in white matter connectivity in the gaze and face processing system in autism, including the fusiform gyrus, the superior temporal sulcus, and the amygdala. Aim 2 will assess whether neurofunctional abnormalities in gaze processing are associated with observable differences in behaviorally measured face processing skills and symptom severity in autism. The candidate, Robert Joseph, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine. As part of Dr. Helen Tager-Flusberg's autism research program, he is the subproject leader of a behavioral study of face perception in autism and has completed his own NICHD-funded R03 study on face recognition in autism. This K01 award will enable the candidate to become an independent researcher using MR methodologies most appropriate to the study of the developmental neuropathology of autism, and will extend his expertise from the behavioral realm into the functional and structural brain underpinnings of the disorder. The plan includes comprehensive training in MR methodologies and data analysis, as well as coursework in neuroimaging, neuroanatomy, developmental neurobiology and neuropathology. The proposed research will contribute to a better understanding of brain pathology in autism as it relates to a key domain of impairment, and can thereby guide the development of more effective biomedical and behavioral interventions for children with autism. Together, the training and research will provide the expertise and pilot data that will allow the candidate to prepare independent R01 applications near the completion of the training period.