Brain and Eye Markers of Facial Expression Recognition and Disorders Associated with Autistic Symptoms

Brain and Eye Markers of Facial Expression Recognition and Disorders Associated with Autistic Symptoms

In everyday life, it is necessary to adjust one's behavior and reactions in order to interact and communicate with others in an appropriate manner. This adaptation is done by taking into account the emotions of the people with whom we interact. This reading of emotions is done by using visible clues on the face, in particular by observing the eye area of the interlocutor.

The aim of the study is to investigate how processes such as attention or memory influence emotion recognition, as well as (i) their alteration in the disease, and (ii) their link with the emergence of autistic and/or psychotic symptoms. We also want to study the implementation of compensatory strategies (used to compensate for difficulties in recognizing or perceiving emotions) and the link between the correct use of these strategies and the emergence of autistic and/or psychotic symptoms.

The present project plans to include a total of 120 participants: 30 participants with ASD, 30 patients with a particular genetic deletion 22q11.2 and 60 control participants.

After the inclusion visit, participation in the study will be divided into two half-days in order to perform a neuropsychological assessment, an EEG study and an oculometry study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Person, and if necessary his or her legal representative, who has given his or her non-objection
• Person whose mother tongue is French.
• Person aged between 7 and 50 years old.
• Person diagnosed with ASD according to DSM-5 criteria, person with a genetic syndrome diagnosed by FISH or CGH array (22q11 deletion), person with typical development matched in age and gender.
• Psychotropic treatment unchanged for one month and stable symptomatology.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Recent addiction according to DSM-5 criteria, excluding tobacco.
• Pregnant women.
• Uncorrected visual acuity disorder.
• Use of somatic or psychic medication that may alter brain/psychic functioning (e.g. corticosteroids).
• Neurological disorder of vascular/infectious or neurodegenerative origin.