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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: fMRI

March 2012

Cognition and behavior: Study probes speech processing

by  /  7 March 2012

Children with autism activate more brain regions than controls do when listening to tonal inflections in speech that convey meaning. The findings were published 19 December in Child Neuropsychology.

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February 2012

MRI devices for children reduce head motion in scanner

by  /  29 February 2012

Researchers have developed functional magnetic imaging devices that are optimized to fit children’s heads, according to a study published in the December issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. These tools increase the quality of the data and deter head motion, which research suggests can lead to spurious results.

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Music reigns

by  /  21 February 2012

Brain imaging studies of people with autism show that specific areas respond more strongly to song than do those of controls. The opposite is true when listening to speech.

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January 2012

Cognition and behavior: Brain scans yield few signs of autism

by  /  31 January 2012

The results of two new studies support recommendations against the use of brain scans to diagnose autism.

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Mapping whole-brain networks may untangle autism’s roots

by  /  23 January 2012

Analyzing the organization of whole-brain structural networks could reveal differences in the way brains of children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders are wired.

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Movement during brain scans may lead to spurious patterns

by  /  16 January 2012

Head movements taint the results of many brain imaging studies, particularly those analyzing children or individuals with developmental disorders, according to two sobering new studies.

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December 2011

Cognition and behavior: Language gene alters brain activity

by  /  7 December 2011

Individuals with autism-linked variants of a language gene use regions in the brain’s right hemisphere, rather than the left, to process language, according to a study published 10 October in The American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B.

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Eric Kandel: The way forward for autism research

by ,  /  6 December 2011

Studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie autism is crucial to advancing our understanding of the disorder, says neuroscientist Eric Kandel.

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November 2011

Molecular mechanisms: Neurons excitable in fragile X mice

by  /  22 November 2011

Neurons from mice that model fragile X syndrome may fire signals more readily than neurons from controls, according to a study published 5 October in The Journal of Neuroscience. The results suggest a cause for the high incidence of seizures in individuals with the syndrome.

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Meta-analysis refines understanding of brain function

by  /  15 November 2011

Scientists are analyzing more than 7,000 studies of functional magnetic resonance imaging to refine the role of various regions in the brain, according to unpublished work presented Monday at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

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