Table 1 MRI studies published between 2005 and 2009 exploring facial processing in samples of at least 10 patients with ASD, as determined by a PubMed search

13 M

(31.2 ± 9.1)

13 M

(25.6 ± 5.1)

Faces expressing different intensities of fear

[Emotional cognitive process]

Abnormal functional connectivity of medial TL

14 M

(15.9 ± 4.71)

16 M

(14.5 ± 4.60)

12 M

(17.1 ± 2.78)

16 M

(14.5 ± 4.56)

Facial emotion discrimination task

[Emotional cognitive process]

Facial recognition task

[Cognitive perception]

Activation in the FG and AMY strongly and positively correlated with the time spent fixating the eyes in both studies

9 M 1 F

(12.05 ± 2.5)

9 M 1 F

(12.38 ± 2.2)

Face emotional recognition task

[Emotional cognitive process]

No activation in the IFG

5 M

(29.4 ± 5.9)

5 M^a

(25.8 ± 8.0)

Face recognition pre and post after FEFA

[Emotional cognitive process]

No significant activation changes in the FG pre- and post-training

14 M 2 F

(33.3 ± 11.5)

14 M 2 F

(35.3 ± 12.1)

Task in which pairs of face and house stimuli were present on every trial

[Social and cognitive perception]

Failure of attention to modulate connectivity between extra striate areas and V1

18 M

(12.5 ± 2.9)

18 M

(11.8 ± 1.9)

Irony comprehension

[Social and cognitive perception]

Reduced activity in the medial PFC and right STG

13 M

(31.2 ± 9.1)

13 M

(25.6 ± 5.1)

Perception of fearful faces

[Emotional cognitive process]

Increase in the ACC and STC

8 M 2 F

(34 ± 11)

4 M 3 F

(35 ± 12)

Passively viewing non emotional faces

[Cognitive perception]

Significant activation of FG and IOG; Hypoactivation in right AMY, IFC, STS, and face-related somatosensory and premotor cortex

16 M 1 F

(22.9 ± 5.2)

14 M 1 F

(24.6 ± 6.5)

Reaction time to arrow or gaze stimulus with similar flanker stimuli oriented (congruent or incongruent directions)

[Cognitive perception and control]

Hypoactivation in MFG, right IFG, bilateral intraparietal sulcus, and the ACC during incongruent gaze stimuli

11 M

(24.5 ± 10.2)

10 M 1 F

(28.7 ± 10.9)

n-back working memory task involving face recognition

[Working memory]

Hypoactivation in the left IPFC and in the right PTC

19

(23.5 ± 7.8)

21

(25.1 ± 7.6)

Facial emotion discrimination (familiar, unfamiliar and new friend)

[Emotional cognitive process]

No between-group differences in fusiform activation to faces or houses;

Significant FG-AMY and FG-STS functional connectivity

12 M

(24.1 ± 5.7)

12 M^b (27.1 ± 3.9)

12 M^c (26.4 ± 5.2)

12 M^d (28.0 ± 3.9)

Complex social judgments of faces

[Social and cognitive perception]

Reduced activation in the right AMY, FG, VLPFC

13 M

(27 ± 10)

15 M

(29 ± 10)

1) Conventional face and object mapping

2) Motion pictures experiment

[Emotional cognitive process and perception]

Decreased of activation, not only in fusiform face area but also in STC and occipital area

12 M

(13.19 ± 2.6)

12 M

(12.23 ± 2.10)

Responsiveness to images of the subjects' own face and of others' faces

[Emotional perception]

Activation of right PM/PF system while viewing images containing mostly their own face

12 M

(11.3 ± 4.0)

12 M

(11.9 ± 2.4)

Subjects had to match faces presented in the upright versus and inverted position

[Cognitive perception]

No differences in the FG;

Decrease in activation in left PFC;

No activation in AMY for upright task

9 M 2 F

(9.9)

9 M 2 F

(9.8)

Pictures of a familiar adult or child, stranger adult or child, objects

[Emotional cognitive process and perception]

Deficit in the mean number of significantly active voxels in FG looking at stranger adults face

12 (8-12)^e

15 (8-12)^e

Matching facial expressions and people

[Emotional cognitive process and perception]

Reduction of FG and AMY activation involved in face processing