Spectrum: Autism Research News

Conventional wisdom holds that people with autism don’t get hooked on alcohol or other drugs, but new evidence suggests otherwise.

Researchers have revamped a screen for ‘mind blindness’ — an impaired understanding of others’ intentions and perspectives — which is a key deficit in autism. The revised test may shed light on how autism develops.
 

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.

Autism researchers have high hopes for a new project called the First 1,000 Days of Life, which aims to follow 5,000 women and their babies from pregnancy through two years after birth.

A large new project aims to link specialized psychiatric units across the U.S. to investigate the causes and best treatment for autism’s most severe and challenging cases.