Autism may be male-biased in prevalence, but our understanding of it should not be, argues Meng-Chuan Lai.

The autism-like features seen in related neurological disorders may be the result of intellectual disability and not a shared underlying biology, says Alan Packer.
 

A new database that houses brain scans from 17 labs worldwide will allow scientists to study brain connectivity and function in autism. Researchers debuted the new resource’s power in a study published 18 June in Molecular Psychiatry.

Studying regression in Rett syndrome may help us understand the phenomenon in autism, as it occurs at the same time in both disorders and includes many of the same features, says Jeffrey Neul.
 

To understand the amygdala’s role in autism, researchers should study its connections with other brain structures and explore its role in development, says Ralph Adolphs.

A new rat study suggests that baby brain scans should be interpreted with caution. Unlike scans of adult brains, the study says, baby brain scans may show changes in blood flow that do not necessarily reflect the activity of neurons in the region.

Differences in brain activity that distinguish children with autism from controls may lessen with age, according to a meta-analysis published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Girls with autism carry more mutations than do boys with the disorder, and show greater differences in brain activity and response to social cues, according to several preliminary studies presented at the 2013 International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain.

Pivotal response training, a form of behavioral therapy for autism, alters brain activity in children with the disorder, normalizing it in some regions and triggering compensatory activity in others, according to a small study. The unpublished results were presented Wednesday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Sebastián, Spain.

People with autism, unlike controls, do not show distinct patterns of brain activity when evaluating scenarios that require them to infer others’ thoughts, according to two studies published in the past two months.