Young children with autism show atypical prefrontal cortical responses to humanoid robots: An fNIRS study

•Activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of ASD differs in human and robot conditions.•Children with ASD need more selective attention resources for human than for robot interaction.•Compared to neurotypical children, it is more difficult for children with ASD to neglect the attraction from robots.•Neural activity at the right DLPFC guides the atypical reaction of children with ASD to robots.•Neural activity at the left DLPFC of children with ASD correlated with their symptoms.