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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: sensory perception

May 2019
Hands touching, showing nerves highlighted in different parts of the hand.

How ‘social touch’ shapes autism traits

by  /  29 May 2019

Autistic people have unusual responses to ‘affective touch,’ which conveys social and emotional information. Their responses may reveal how autism begins.

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Toddler having head measured at clinic

With its targets, top autism gene may define a form of the condition

by  /  3 May 2019

Children with mutations either in CHD8 — a top autism gene — or in genes that CHD8 controls share similar characteristics.

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a boy in red knocking on a wall

Sensory sensitivity may forecast self-injury in autistic children

by  /  3 May 2019

Autistic infants who have extreme responses to sights, sounds or textures tend to harm themselves as toddlers.

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Illustration shows the world is distorted through a point of view pair of glasses

The predictive coding theory of autism, explained

by  /  1 May 2019

In autism, a person’s brain may not form accurate predictions of imminent experiences, or even if it does, sensory input may override those predictions.

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January 2019
Three views of the human brain show connectivity

Sensory, motor connections may be disrupted in autism brains

by  /  31 January 2019

Links between sensory and motor brain networks may be unusually weak in individuals with autism.

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People with autism sometimes give ambiguous looks

by  /  2 January 2019

Autistic people have trouble making facial expressions appropriate to the circumstances.

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December 2018

Unusual sensory responses in infancy may hint at autism

by  /  12 December 2018

Some children diagnosed with autism by age 2 show unusual responses to sights, sounds and textures as infants.

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November 2018
Light brown rat stand on hind legs, sniffing and listening

Vagus-nerve stimulation may ease hearing problems in Rett rats

by  /  7 November 2018

Stimulating the vagus nerve may normalize the brain response to sound in a rat model of Rett syndrome. It may also improve rats’ behavioral response to certain speech sounds.

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Motor, sensory traits refine autism definition in research framework

by  /  7 November 2018

Adding motor and sensory data boosts the accuracy of Research Domain Criteria — a broad research framework adopted by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health — for predicting autism.

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Roundworm roundup may reveal function of autism genes

by  /  6 November 2018

Tracking how roundworms crawl has enabled scientists to determine that many autism genes are involved in sensory processing and learning.

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