Abstract: Autism Spectrum Disorders(ASD) refers to a spectrum of psychological conditions characterized by widespread abnormalities of social interactions and communication as well as severely restricted interests and highly repetitive stereotyped behavior. It includes Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Regarding event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging technology as cues, this review discussed the neural mechanisms of face recognition in ASD patients via analyzing the abnormal changes of brain in the processing of face recognition. Researches showed that face recognition disability of ASD patients is mainly related to the abnormality of ERPs components such as N170, P400, N300 and Nc as well as lower activation of the fusiform face area and amygdala. Therefore, it is argued that the disorder of face recognition in ASD patients maybe result from the interaction of abnormal brain regions, which is impacted on the extent of the damage and the number of abnormal brain regions.

Key words: autism spectrum disorders, face recognition, N170, fusiform face area, amagdala