Late Positive Potential ERP Responses to Social and Nonsocial Stimuli in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Stephen D. Benning, Megan Kovac, Alana Campbell, Stephanie Miller, Eleanor K. Hanna, Cara R. Damiano, Antoinette Sabatino-DiCriscio, Lauren Turner-Brown, Noah J. Sasson, Rachel V. Aaron, Jessica Kinard, Gabriel S. Dichter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

We examined the late positive potential (LPP) event related potential in response to social and nonsocial stimuli from youths 9 to 19 years old with (n = 35) and without (n = 34) ASD. Social stimuli were faces with positive expressions and nonsocial stimuli were related to common restricted interests in ASD (e.g., electronics, vehicles, etc.). The ASD group demonstrated relatively smaller LPP amplitude to social stimuli and relatively larger LPP amplitude to nonsocial stimuli. There were no group differences in subjective ratings of images, and there were no significant correlations between LPP amplitude and ASD symptom severity within the ASD group. LPP results suggest blunted motivational responses to social stimuli and heightened motivational responses to nonsocial stimuli in youth with ASD.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3068-3077
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume46
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Late positive potential
  • Motivation
  • Restricted interests
  • Social

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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