Atypical N170 lateralization of face and word recognition in Chinese children with autism spectrum disorder

Atypical brain lateralization patterns in processing both human faces (reduced right lateralization) and alphabetic languages (reduced left lateralization) have been found in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, whether Chinese children with ASD show similar atypical brain lateralization patterns in processing faces and language is largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine this issue with N170, an event-related potential (ERP) component responsible for faces and visual words. Twenty Chinese children with ASD and 18 typically developing children participated in the study. ERPs were recorded while participants were presented with Chinese characters and faces. Results showed a significant right-lateralization of N170 for control children in processing both faces and characters, whereas there was no lateralization of N170 for children with ASD, either in processing faces or characters. The results suggest that Chinese children with ASD exhibited atypical lateralization in processing both faces and written words. The reduced right lateralization for processing faces in Chinese children with ASD compared with the control group was similar to the lateralization deficits demonstrated in western studies. However, the reduced right lateralization for processing Chinese characters in ASD was different from the deficit pattern of lateralization for processing alphabetic languages.