Impairment of joint attention represents the core clinical features of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs), including autism and Asperger's disorder. However, experimental studies reported intact gaze-triggered attentional orienting in PDD. Since all previous studies employed supraliminal presentation of gaze stimuli, we hypothesized that…

Based on previous neuroscientific evidence indicating activation of the mirror neuron system in response to dynamic facial actions, we hypothesized that facial mimicry would occur while subjects viewed dynamic facial expressions. To test this hypothesis, dynamic/static facial expressions of anger/happiness were presented using computer-morphing…

Right hemispheric dominance in unconscious emotional processing has been suggested, but remains controversial. This issue was investigated using the subliminal affective priming paradigm combined with unilateral visual presentation in 40 normal subjects. In either left or right visual fields, angry facial expressions, happy facial expressions, or…