The reward center of the brain is less active in children with autism compared with controls in response both to praise and monetary rewards, according to a study published 11 April in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

The largest brain imaging study ever performed has identified candidate genes that influence brain size and general intelligence, according to research published 15 April in Nature Genetics.

By manipulating the location of a protein that detects capsaicin, the molecule responsible for the burn in hot chili peppers, researchers can activate subpopulations of neurons and alter the behavior of mice. The results were published 20 March in Nature Communications.

A ten-year initiative announced last month by the Allen Institute for Brain Science aims to catalog the development, structure and function of neural circuits in the brain at an unprecedented level of detail.

FOXP2, a protein linked to language development that regulates the expression of some autism-associated genes, also dampens expression of DISC1, mutations in which have been linked to both schizophrenia and autism. The results were published 20 March in Human Molecular Genetics.

People with autism have diverse brain response to different textures, according to a study that measures the sensory difficulties associated with the disorder.

Neurons lacking PTEN, an autism-associated gene also involved in cancer, are hyperconnected to both near and distant brain cells, according to a study published 1 February in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Researchers have identified a noncoding RNA, a genetic message that is not translated into a protein, that may be involved in autism. The discovery, published 4 April in Science Translational Medicine, came from examining a region on chromosome 5 that has been previously linked to the disorder.

Researchers have used gene expression data to create a map of the layers within the neocortex, a brain region involved in sensory perception, motor control and language, of rhesus macaques. The results were published 22 March in Neuron.

Children with autism have a smaller corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, compared with controls, and this difference persists over two years of development, according to a study published 18 February in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.