Children missing a stretch of chromosome 16 known as 16p11.2 process sound a split second slower than typical children do. The findings suggest that genes encoded in the 16p11.2 region may underlie the hearing delay seen in some people with autism.

Male mice with a genetic variant linked to autism vocalize less in social situations than controls do during encounters with female mice. The findings help to characterize the effects of variants in the 16p11.2 chromosomal region.

Do mice use their high-pitched vocalizations to communicate, just as people use speech? It’s not likely, according to an unpublished study of deaf mice presented yesterday at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

People with autism tend to be less efficient than controls at integrating what they hear with what they see, according to unpublished results presented today at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Mice modeling autism have trouble integrating different kinds of sensory information such as sight, sound and touch. A study published 31 July in Neuron reports that an imbalance between signals that calm neurons and those that excite them leads to these sensory problems.

A new questionnaire may help assess sensory problems — such as heightened awareness of bright colors or loud noises — in adults with autism.

Researchers have linked defects in the dopamine brain circuit to behaviors of a new mouse model of the 16p11.2 deletion. In a study in the 16 May Cell Reports, they suggest that the mutation alters the brain’s regulation of dopamine and may be responsible for behavioral problems, including autism.

Children with autism can be classified into one of four groups based on how they respond to stimuli such as taste, sound and even the orientations of their bodies in space, according to a study published 17 March in Autism Research.

Deleting MeCP2 from a subset of neurons that mediate inhibitory signals recapitulates many of the symptoms of Rett syndrome in mice. Conversely, expressing the gene only in that subset, but not in the rest of the brain, protects the mice from some of those same symptoms. The results were published last week in Nature Neuroscience.

A small study published 3 April in Molecular Autism has found that 98 percent of mothers of children with autism have unusual responses to sensory stimuli, including light, sound and touch.