Wang Lab
Principal Investigator: Shuo Wang
Institution: Washington University in St. Louis (Saint Louis, MO)
Primary Subfield: Neuroscience
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
Faces often convey a wealth of information and processing the human face is at the focal point of most social interactions. When we see a person’s face, we can easily recognize their unique identity and general features. The gestalt of facial processing enables us to make judgments about a person’s mood or other aspects such as their level of trustworthiness. Yet, this simple perceptual task is difficult for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a population that spends limited amounts of time engaged in face-to-face eye contact or social interactions in general. Although there is a large body of literature on face perception and many studies have documented abnormal face processing in people with ASD, most existing studies focus on the recognition of faces and emotional expressions or on perception of a particular social attribute (e.g., trustworthiness). It remains largely unclear how the brain represents and evaluates faces in general, and whether/how this mechanism differs in ASD. The study of face processing in ASD is very important because it will not only help us understand the social deficits of this disorder but also provide a unique opportunity to study the fac…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01MH129426-05: Model-Based Investigation of Aberrant Neural Face Representation in Autism (2026)
- 5R01MH129426-04: Model-Based Investigation of Aberrant Neural Face Representation in Autism (2025)
- 5R01MH129426-03: Model-Based Investigation of Aberrant Neural Face Representation in Autism (2024)
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