AUTISM: A Window Onto the Development of the Social and the Analytic Brain

Abstract

Although the neurobiological understanding of autism has been increasing exponentially, the diagnosis of autism spectrum conditions still rests entirely on behavioral criteria. Autism is therefore most productively approached using a combination of biological and psychological theory. The triad of behavioral abnormalities in social function, communication, and restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests can be explained psychologically by an impaired capacity for empathizing, or modeling the mental states governing the behavior of people, along with a superior capacity for systemizing, or inferring the rules governing the behavior of objects. This empathizing-systemizing theory explains other psychological models such as impairments of executive function or central coherence, and may have a neurobiological basis in abnormally low activity of brain regions subserving social cognition, along with abnormally high activity of regions subserving lower-level, perceptual processing--a pattern that may result from a skewed balance of local versus long-range functional connectivity.

A cross-syndrome study of the development of holistic face recognition in children with autism, Down syndrome, and Williams syndrome

“…Regions of the 'social brain network', including the superior temporal sulcus and the amygdala have also been found to exhibit atypical activation patterns in individuals with autism (Baron- Cohen & Belmonte, 2005;Hadjikani, et al, 2004;Pelphrey et al, 2005). Recently, in an adult sample with autism, Koshino et al (2008) found activation in a different location in the fusiform area in response to faces compared to control participants.…”

Effects of age and symptomatology on cortical thickness in autism spectrum disorders

“…In addition, we assessed the relation between cortical thickness in specific regions implicated in social and communication functions and symptom severity. In this latter analysis, a priori regions of interest (ROIs) included anterior cingulate cortices (ACC), medial prefrontal cortices (mPFC), orbital frontal cortices (OFC), inferior frontal gyri (IFG), the superior temporal gyri (STG) and fusiform gyri because of their involvement in social behaviours and communication (Baron-Cohen & Belmonte, 2005).…”

SLC25A12 expression is associated with neurite outgrowth and is upregulated in the prefrontal cortex of autistic subjects

“…15,16 Abnormal brain functioning has been reported in autistic subjects, particularly in the cortical networks involved in social interaction, such as the medial and inferior frontal cortex, the medial and ventral temporal lobes, superior temporal sulcus, amygdala and cerebellum. 17,18 We investigated the possible deregulation of SCL25A12 expression in autism, using mRNA extracted from post-mortem tissues from autistic individuals and controls, focusing on two regions: frontal cortex BA46 and cerebellum hemisphere lobule VI granule cells.…”