ArticleBiological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging2020
The Unfulfilled Promise of the N170 as a Social Biomarker.
Article in Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social Functioning in Autistic Children with Below-Average vs. Average IQ: Limited Behavioral and Neural Evidence of Group Differences.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Using EEG and Eye Tracking to Evaluate an Emotion Recognition iPad App for Autistic Children.Clinical EEG and neuroscience · 2026Article
- Characterizing the Relationship Among the Social Competence Elements in Autistic Adolescents.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Characteristics of Cognitive Event-Related Potential Components and N170 Source Analysis in Patients with Acute Cerebellar Infarction.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2025Article
- An Event-Related Potential Study on Facial Recognition in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorders.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- A comparative analysis of face and object perception in 2D laboratory and virtual reality settings: insights from induced oscillatory responses.Experimental brain research · 2024Article
- Face processing in young adults with autism and ADHD: An event related potentials study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Real-life relevant face perception is not captured by the N170 but reflected in later potentials: A comparison of 2D and virtual reality stimuli.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Sex differences in automatic emotion regulation in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2022Article
- Refining biomarker evaluation in ASD.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Drug development for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Progress, challenges, and future directions.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Review
- Investigating Changes in Reward-Related Neural Correlates After PEERS Intervention in Adolescents With ASD: Preliminary Evidence of a "Precision Medicine" Approach.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Brief Report: Preliminary Evidence of the N170 as a Biomarker of Response to Treatment in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- EEG-IP: an international infant EEG data integration platform for the study of risk and resilience in autism and related conditions.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2020Article
- Facial Expression Processing Across the Autism-Psychosis Spectra: A Review of Neural Findings and Associations With Adverse Childhood Events.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Review
- Frequency-Tagging Electroencephalography of Superimposed Social and Non-Social Visual Stimulation Streams Reveals Reduced Saliency of Faces in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
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Abstract
backgroundGreater affordability and accessibility of noninvasive brain imaging techniques have led to an increased interest in identifying biomarkers of various cognitive processes, particularly in the field of neurodevelopmental disabilities. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one area of research in which strong claims in support of brain-based biomarkers, such as the face-sensitive N170 event-related potential response, are currently emerging. This study systematically examined the possibility of the N170 amplitude and latency measures serving as a biomarker of social information processing in ASD.
methodsThe N170 response to faces and houses was recorded during passive picture viewing in 77 children with ASD, 7 to 16 years of age, at 2 time points (before and after a social skills intervention) 3 months apart. Social functioning was assessed using standardized behavioral tests, caregiver reports, and observational measures of naturalistic social interactions.
resultsThe results replicated prior findings of larger N170 amplitudes in response to faces than to houses, but the associations with the behavioral measures of social functioning were modest and not consistently present across the 2 assessment time points. Neither the amplitude nor the latency of the N170 response to faces was sensitive to the effects of a social skills intervention that produced behavioral improvements.
conclusionsThe N170 is a reliable event-related potential response reflecting the sensory-perceptual stage of face processing, but it does not fit the definition of a biomarker of social deficits in ASD because it is not sufficiently informative about heterogeneity of social functioning and is not sensitive to treatment effects.
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