Brain imaging experiments often require the participant to perform tasks while lying inside a brain scanner for up to an hour — not a pleasant experience for anyone, let alone a child with autism. Saturday afternoon at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, Steve Petersen described ‘resting state’ imaging, in which participants lie in the scanner for just five to ten minutes.

A new brain imaging technique may provide a powerful tool for understanding social interaction, and how it is disrupted in conditions such as autism, according to a poster presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

Mice bearing the genetic defect that causes Timothy syndrome show many autism-like behaviors, and may also have enhanced cognitive abilities like those seen in a small number of people with autism, suggests a poster presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

The gene-environment interactions that are thought to contribute to many cases of autism can now be explored in a mouse model, according to a poster presented Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

Researchers have narrowed down a genetic region associated with autism to one protein, cadherin 8, that helps bind cells together, according to a study published online in October in the Journal of Medical Genetics. This is the first time CDH8, the gene that encodes this protein, has been associated with autism.

Stem cell studies show that a mutation in the neuroligin-4 gene disrupts the normal development of synapses, the junction between neurons, according to unpublished data shown Sunday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

Counting neurons in the brains of people with autism who died young might strike some people as grisly or tedious. But Eric Courchesne sees it is the key to understanding why people with autism experience rapid overgrowth of certain brain regions early in life.

Siblings of children with autism who show no signs of the disorder may be compensating with increased activity in two brain regions that detect social cues, according to results presented yesterday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

A combination approach may hold promise for treating repetitive motor behaviors, such as those seen in people with autism, according to research presented yesterday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

A Pittsburgh group has created a comprehensive database of brain scans and other medical and demographic data from nearly 800 individuals whose brains have been injured by strokes. The researchers showcased the collection, called the Western Pennsylvania Patient Registry, at a poster session yesterday at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.