Brain responses to social stimuli may vary by sex in autism
Autistic girls’ brains respond more strongly to social stimuli than do autistic boys’.
Autistic girls’ brains respond more strongly to social stimuli than do autistic boys’.
Most autistic people want to and can make friends, though their relationships often have a distinctive air.
The drug popularly known as ecstasy may boost sociability through brain circuits distinct from that underlying its ‘high.’
Tuberous sclerosis provides a unique opportunity to understand autism because about half of people with that single-gene condition also have autism.
Although many children with autism want to engage with peers, their emotional difficulties often get in the way of their relationships.
The ability to learn from social experiences wanes by adulthood, at least in mice — but the recreational drug ecstasy may bring it back.
The cerebellum, a brain region primarily associated with movement, may mediate the pleasure that comes from socializing.
Boosting the levels of the chemical messenger serotonin makes mice that model autism more social — and brings new hope to a shelved theory in autism.
The brain’s system for sensing pleasure and reward shows unusual activation patterns and an atypical structure in people with autism.
Rats with a mutation in CACNA1C, a gene linked to autism, make fewer happy squeaks while playing than controls do, and ignore other rats’ requests to play.