Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40759682›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

Specific dynamic facial expression evoked responses show distinct perceptual and attentional features in autism connected to social communication and GABA phenotypes.

Daniela Sousa, Ana Ferreira, Helena Catarina Pereira, Joana Amaral, Joana Crisóstomo, Marco Simões, Ricardo Martins, Susana Mouga, Frederico Duque, Guiomar Oliveira and 1 more

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Daniela SousaFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Physiology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Ana FerreiraFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Physiology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Helena Catarina PereiraFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Physiology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Joana AmaralFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Physiology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Joana CrisóstomoFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Physiology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Marco SimõesCoimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research CIBIT, Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Ricardo MartinsCoimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research CIBIT, Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Susana MougaCoimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research CIBIT, Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Frederico DuqueCoimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research CIBIT, Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Guiomar OliveiraCoimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research CIBIT, Institute for Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health ICNAS, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Miguel Castelo-BrancoFaculty of Medicine, Institute for Physiology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal. mcbranco@fmed.uc.pt.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Autism is characterised by core differences in social communication and interaction. The neurobiology underlying autism can be investigated using experimental designs that capture the dynamic nature of social perception, which activates the third visual pathway. Here, we investigated dynamic specific facial emotion processing using a naturalistic facial expression paradigm, leading to a specific dynamic N170 (dN170) evoked by emotion expression trajectories. Participants engaged in an active task of an avatar with two temporal trajectories: morphing from neutral to happy or sad expressions and unmorphing back to neutral. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy in autistic and non-autistic children and adolescents (n = 16 per group; ages between 8 and 17) matched for sex, handedness, and age. Results revealed that dN170 exhibited longer latencies during unmorphing for the autistic group. This specific timing effect, identified for the unmorphing versus morphing conditions in autism, suggests a stimulus trajectory-dependent effect (hysteresis). Dynamic P300 showed higher amplitudes in the autistic group during morphing, confirming the presence of an attentional compensatory mechanism. Correlations between ERP properties, GABA, and social communication abilities provided evidence of a dimensional continuum from non-autistic to autistic traits. These findings highlight the promising role of these ERPs as indicators of perceptual and attentional processing differences in autism.

Indexed as

AttentionAutistic DisorderEvoked PotentialsFacial Expressiongamma-Aminobutyric AcidAdolescentChildCommunicationElectroencephalographyEmotionsFemaleHumansMalePhenotypeSocial Perceptiongamma-Aminobutyric AcidAutism spectrumChildren and adolescentsDynamic facial emotional processingN170P300Spectroscopy

Identifiers

PMID40759682
PMCPMC12322032

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.