Joint attention is a social interaction skill that normally develops in infancy and involves following another’s gaze to a stimulus. This skill is absent or developmentally delayed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), causing cascading effects on development. Neural synchrony in the gamma frequency band is thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as joint attention. The current study investigated differences in gamma power between neurotypicals and ASD as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) while performing a gaze cueing task simulating joint attention. Results support lower frontal gamma power in ASD, suggesting that impaired generation of gamma activity in the prefrontal cortex may be involved in impairments in social cognitive functions such as joint attention in ASD. In contrast to previous research, findings did not support higher posterior gamma power in ASD, indicating a need for further research to clarify the nature of gamma oscillatory activity in posterior brain regions in ASD.
","abstract_html":"<p>Joint attention is a social interaction skill that normally develops in infancy and involves following another’s gaze to a stimulus. This skill is absent or developmentally delayed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), causing cascading effects on development. Neural synchrony in the gamma frequency band is thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as joint attention. The current study investigated differences in gamma power between neurotypicals and ASD as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) while performing a gaze cueing task simulating joint attention. Results support lower frontal gamma power in ASD, suggesting that impaired generation of gamma activity in the prefrontal cortex may be involved in impairments in social cognitive functions such as joint attention in ASD. In contrast to previous research, findings did not support higher posterior gamma power in ASD, indicating a need for further research to clarify the nature of gamma oscillatory activity in posterior brain regions in ASD.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Richard, Annette E."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Renee Lajiness-O’Neill, PhD, Chair","Jin Bo, PhD","Thomas Schmitt, PhD"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:44Z","subjects":["joint attention","social interaction","autism","developmentally delayed","autism spectrum disorders","Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/377","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Renee Lajiness-O’Neill, PhD, Chair","Jin Bo, PhD","Thomas Schmitt, PhD"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Richard, Annette E."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-05-02T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["joint attention","social interaction","autism","developmentally delayed","autism spectrum disorders","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/377"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Joint attention is a social interaction skill that normally develops in infancy and involves following another’s gaze to a stimulus. This skill is absent or developmentally delayed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), causing cascading effects on development. Neural synchrony in the gamma frequency band is thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as joint attention. The current study investigated differences in gamma power between neurotypicals and ASD as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) while performing a gaze cueing task simulating joint attention. Results support lower frontal gamma power in ASD, suggesting that impaired generation of gamma activity in the prefrontal cortex may be involved in impairments in social cognitive functions such as joint attention in ASD. In contrast to previous research, findings did not support higher posterior gamma power in ASD, indicating a need for further research to clarify the nature of gamma oscillatory activity in posterior brain regions in ASD.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Gamma oscillatory activity in autism spectrum disorder during a face cueing task"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Renee Lajiness-O’Neill, PhD, Chair","Jin Bo, PhD","Thomas Schmitt, PhD"],"dc:creator":["Richard, Annette E."],"dc:date.available":["2012-05-02T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Joint attention is a social interaction skill that normally develops in infancy and involves following another’s gaze to a stimulus. This skill is absent or developmentally delayed in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), causing cascading effects on development. Neural synchrony in the gamma frequency band is thought to be involved in cognitive functions such as joint attention. The current study investigated differences in gamma power between neurotypicals and ASD as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG) while performing a gaze cueing task simulating joint attention. Results support lower frontal gamma power in ASD, suggesting that impaired generation of gamma activity in the prefrontal cortex may be involved in impairments in social cognitive functions such as joint attention in ASD. In contrast to previous research, findings did not support higher posterior gamma power in ASD, indicating a need for further research to clarify the nature of gamma oscillatory activity in posterior brain regions in ASD.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/377"],"dc:subject":["joint attention","social interaction","autism","developmentally delayed","autism spectrum disorders","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Gamma oscillatory activity in autism spectrum disorder during a face cueing task"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:44Z"}