Mice lacking one copy of the autism-linked 16p11.2 chromosomal region are thin, deaf and show repetitive behaviors. They also have altered proportions of neurons in their brains, particularly those that express the chemical messenger dopamine. The unpublished results were presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
Sensory responses in the brain of an individual with autism vary much more than in someone without the disorder, according to a study published 20 September in Neuron. This may explain why some people with autism are extremely sensitive to lights and sounds.
Studying the well-characterized Williams syndrome could help researchers understand autism and discover new therapeutic targets, says Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg.
People with autism respond emotionally to music, they just have trouble expressing it, according to a study in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
An abnormal response to sound detected by brain imaging may distinguish children with autism from those with specific language impairment, according to a study published 30 May in Neuroreport.
Infants at high risk for autism have difficulty integrating information from different senses, such as vision and hearing, a new study suggests.
Warning signs of autism, such as deficits in social ability and fine motor skills, are apparent as early as 6 months of age, according to a large longitudinal study published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Brain imaging can detect acute sensitivity to sound in individuals with autism, according to a study published 25 January in Neurophysiology.
In high-functioning adults with autism, the signal-to-noise ratio in the outer regions of the brain is significantly lower than in healthy controls, according to unpublished research presented Friday in Washington, D.C.
Most neuroscientists who study autism focus on genes, pathways and mouse models, and rarely think about the day-to-day experience of people with the disorder, contends developmental psychologist Ami Klin.