Emotional word processing in farsi-speaking youth with autism spectrum disorder: an event related potentials study

The main aim of this study was to investigate the brain activity of youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) while processing emotional words compared to typically developing (TD) peers. A total number of 20 children and adolescents with ASD (aged between 102 and 212 months) were compared with 20 aged matched TD youth. All participants completed a valence judgment task using neutral and emotional words while the event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Early Posterior Negativity (EPN), P300, and N400 amplitudes and latencies did not show any significant group differences. However, the Late Positive Component (LPC) was not observable for all emotional categories in individuals with ASD ( p < .05). These findings suggest intact and early-stage ERP responses during emotional word processing in ASD, but alterations in later, top-down evaluative stages, as reflected in the absence of LPC activity.