Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have for the first time identified brain regions activated by joint attention, the process in which two people direct their attention to the same object, person or topic of conversation. The findings appeared 16 April in Human Brain Mapping.
Infants at high risk for autism have difficulty integrating information from different senses, such as vision and hearing, a new study suggests.
Two new studies on oxytocin, the so-called ‘trust hormone,’ suggest new avenues for using the drug to treat autism.
Social impairments in autism are likely a consequence of deficits in social motivation that start early in life and have profound developmental consequences, says psychologist Robert Schultz.
Children with autism who have different verbal and intellectual abilities seem to glean useful social information from different parts of the face, according to the largest-ever eye-tracking study of the disorder. The findings are published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
A longitudinal study of infant siblings of children with autism is the first to identify a particular brain pattern that is linked to later diagnosis of autism.
As babies are learning to talk, they shift their focus from speakers’ eyes to their lips, according to a new study that could inform efforts to find an early predictor of autism.
Toddlers with autism do not anticipate emotional moments in videos of social scenes, unlike controls, according to a study published 27 December in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Male rhesus macaques show more interest in videos with social content, such as another monkey displaying aggression, than in videos of landscapes or other animals, according to a study published 26 October in PLoS One.
Researchers have designed a light, mobile and wireless device that allows them to track infants’ gaze as they explore their environment, according to a study published in November in Child Development.