A new device designed to conduct magneto-electroencephalography in children younger than 3 years is ideal for detecting early signs of autism, researchers reported 3 March in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
Mirror neurons, which fire when a person performs or observes an action, function just as well in young children with autism as they do in their typically developing peers. The finding, reported 10 February in Autism Research, boosts evidence against a popular theory of autism.
Thought until recently to only coordinate motor skills, the cerebellum is involved in diverse cognitive functions such as language and social interaction, and may play a role in autism, says Emanuel DiCicco-Bloom.
People with autism show diminished language activity in the left halves of their brains but otherwise show typical specialization between hemispheres, according to a study published 6 February in Molecular Autism.
The ‘rich club,’ a higher-order brain network, is anatomically similar but functionally richer in adults compared with children, according to a study published 5 February in PLoS One.
Even at rest, the brains of people with autism manage more information than those of their peers, according to a new study that may provide support for the so-called ‘intense world’ theory of autism.
A temporary shortage of microglia — immune cells in the brain that prune unnecessary neural connections — in infancy can have long-lasting effects on brain circuits and behavior, according to a study published in Nature Neuroscience on 2 February.
Watch the complete replay of Kevin Pelphrey discussing how imaging can chart social cognition in the brains of children with autism.
A new research network aims to study autism’s least-understood population: those with the most severe forms of the disorder. Three experts weigh in on the project’s potential impact.
Even small differences in head motion between groups can substantially increase group differences in brain imaging scans. This underscores the importance of accounting for head motion in any study in which one population is likely to move more than another, says Kami Koldewyn.