Mirror neurons, which fire when a person performs or observes an action, function just as well in young children with autism as they do in their typically developing peers. The finding, reported 10 February in Autism Research, boosts evidence against a popular theory of autism.
People with autism show diminished language activity in the left halves of their brains but otherwise show typical specialization between hemispheres, according to a study published 6 February in Molecular Autism.
People with autism show differences from controls in the levels of microRNAs, small noncoding bits of RNA, in the social and sound-processing parts of the brain. Unpublished results from the postmortem study were presented Wednesday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
People are unconsciously alert to what’s going on in the minds of others, and this activity can be traced to two specific regions of the brain, according to unpublished results presented Sunday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
Researchers have recreated one of the most popular rodent models of autism in a decidedly slimier animal: the tadpole. The unpublished study was presented Sunday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
Activating cells in the cerebellum, a brain region usually associated with movement, eliminates seizures in a mouse strain that normally has hundreds of seizures a day, according to results presented Saturday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
Characterizing the brain’s network organization may help us understand autism, says Damien Fair.
A new microscopy technique allows researchers to take high-resolution three-dimensional images of intact mouse brains.
Many researchers have reported atypical brain connectivity in people with autism lying passively in a brain scanner. But those differences may be the result of what participants are thinking about, rather than of an underlying neural defect, according to a poster presented Sunday at the 2012 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in New Orleans.
Researchers have induced stem cells to form three-dimensional clumps of neurons that resemble miniature brains, according to a study published 31 July in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.