Impaired inhibitory control when processing real but not cartoon emotional faces in autistic children: Evidence from an event-related potential study.

Lee et al. (2024) hooked 8- to 12-year-old autistic and neurotypical kids to an EEG cap. The kids played a go/no-go game while pictures flashed by. Some pictures were real faces showing happy, angry, or neutral feelings. Other pictures were cartoon faces with the same feelings.

The team measured the N170, a tiny brain wave that jumps when we look at faces. They also tracked how well each child could stop themselves from pressing a button when a “no-go” face popped up.

Only the real faces tripped up the autistic group. Their N170 was smaller and slower, and they hit the button more when they should have held back. With cartoon faces, both groups looked the same.

The worse the N170, the worse the child scored on everyday emotion-recognition tests. Cartoons did not show this link.

Van der Donck et al. (2023) saw no EEG difference in autistic adults doing rapid face tasks. Kyung’s kids, however, showed clear problems. The gap hints that face-processing trouble may fade with age, so early help matters.

Cramm et al. (2009) also found no broad inhibitory deficit in autistic kids using button-press data alone. Kyung adds EEG proof that the trouble appears only when the face is real and emotional, not when it is a slow or neutral shape.

Kuang et al. (2025) pooled 25 fMRI studies and pinned down weak left inferior frontal gyrus activity during face emotion tasks. Kyung’s EEG result lines up: less N170 and failed stopping both point to the same frontal-lobe under-activation.

If you teach feelings with cartoon flashcards, you may miss the real problem. Swap in true photos or live faces and build inhibition right into the lesson. Try “stop-when-sad” games with real faces, then check whether the child can still label the feeling. When progress shows up on both the EEG and everyday greetings, you know the skill is sticking.