"The development of the neurobiology and behavior that support face expression processing"

Nim Tottenham, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

6:00 p.m., Wednesday, September 1, 2010
MIT Building 46-3002 (auditorium), followed by a reception
Building Address:43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA  02139


Hosted by Pawan Sinha, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Vision and Computation Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department, MIT


Please RSVP to lmavros@mit.edu

The process of learning to interpret facial expressions is supported by circuitry involving the amygdala and fusiform gyrus, two regions that undergo protracted development and are highly influenced by the environment. Typical learning about faces is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), as is the underlying neurobiology.  An intimate association exists between the activity of these regions and the discrete behavior of eye-contact, underscoring the ability of the eye-region to communicate emotions from person to person. Using a combination of methods including a laboratory-based eye-contact intervention, eye-tracking, functional and structural neuroimaging, and behavioral tasks, we examine these brain-behavior associations in multiple ages and populations. We examine behavioral performance and neural activity across development from childhood through adulthood in typical individuals, individuals with face deprivation that resulted from early neglect, and individuals with ASD. Our findings suggest that the neurobiology of face processing depends on a species-expected environment, which creates opportunities for appropriate visual exploration of faces and the co-construction of face processing and associated neurobiology across development.

Click here to view some of Dr. Tottenham's publications


Supported by the Simons Initiative on Autism and the Brain at MIT