Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication as well as repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. The consequences of this disorder for everyday life adaptation are extremely variable. The general public is now more aware of the high prevalence of this lifelong disorder, with ca. However, the signs and symptoms of autism are still puzzling. Since a biological basis of autism was accepted, approaches from developmental cognitive neuroscience have been applied to further our understanding of the autism spectrum.
The study of the behavioural and underlying cognitive deficits in autism has advanced ahead of the study of the underlying brain abnormalities and of the putative genetic mechanisms. However, advances in these fields are expected as methodological difficulties are overcome. In this paper, recent developments in the field of autism are outlined. In particular, we review the findings of the three main neuro-cognitive theories of autism: theory-of-mind deficit, weak central coherence and executive dysfunction.
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Elisabeth L Hill and Uta Frith. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer.
Copyright notice. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication as well as repetitive behaviours and restricted interests.
The neuroanatomy of autism: a voxel-based whole brain analysis of structural scans. MRI volumes of amygdala and hippocampus in non-mentally retarded autistic adolescents and adults.
Autism as a strongly genetic disorder: evidence from a British twin study. Psychol Med. A clinicopathological study of autism. Autism: the phenotype in relatives. J Autism Dev Disord. A screening instrument for autism at 18 months of age: a 6-year follow-up study. The extreme male brain theory of autism. Trends Cogn Sci. Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?
Social intelligence in the normal and autistic brain: an fMRI study. Eur J Neurosci. Intact and impaired memory functions in autism. Child Dev. Despite considerable evidence for abnormalities in ASD brain, there are inconsistent results from different groups. One of the reasons for these contradictory results is that researchers overlooked developmental changes in the brains [ 8 ].
In this regard, we introduce age-related changes of structure, function, and connectivity in ASD brains in this review. Brain is a complex organ that has been occurred dynamic changes over time as a normal developmental process [ 7 ].
Longitudinal studies will provide reliable information about atypical developmental patterns of the ASD brains. For this, national support on research and collaboration among the ASD family, researchers and clinician are necessary.
Alternatively, the possible strategy is to define more homogenous subgroups of ASD. Individuals with ASD show enormous heterogeneity depending on age, gender, intellectual ability, genetic factor, and environmental risk factor [ 93 ]. Studies regarding these affective factors will bring more consistent data and improve understanding of neurobiological mechanisms of ASD. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Exp Neurobiol v. Exp Neurobiol.
Published online Dec Find articles by Sungji Ha. Find articles by In-Jung Sohn. Find articles by Namwook Kim. Find articles by Hyeon Jeong Sim. Find articles by Keun-Ah Cheon. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer.
Corresponding author. To whom correspondence should be addressed. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Autism spectrum disorder ASD is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors RRBs. Open in a separate window. Whole brain volume by age and group.
Regional Brain Structure The pathological mechanism that represents an ongoing enlargement of the brain is unclear. Cortical Area Brain overgrowth in childhood of ASD mediates a significant difference in geometry of the brain. Infants, Toddlers and Children Social communication and social interaction Language development is a critical neurobiological process to communicate each other.
For more information, see [ 39 ] From Kim et al. Restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors, interest, or activities indicate heterogeneous features of ASD. Adolescents and Adults Social communication and social interaction Several models have been proposed to explain impairments in social communication and interaction of ASD.
Restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities The neural correlates underlying RRBs have been investigated less than social communication and interaction even though RRBs contain diverse manifestation in ASD and has clinical significance [ 47 ].
Toddlers and Children Since Biswal et al. Right ATR cluster size: 1 mm 3 voxels. For more information, see [ 78 ] From Cheon K-A et al. Adolescents and Adults Using the fMRI, most studies suggested that hypo-connectivity in ASD during the task performance examining language [ 79 ], face processing [ 80 ] including emotional face [ 81 ], visuomotor coordination [ 82 ], working memory [ 83 ] and executive function [ 84 ].
Whole-brain intrinsic functional connectivity analyses. Parcellations are represented with their center of mass overlaid as spheres on glass brains.
The upper panel shows the intrinsic functional connections blue lines that were significantly weaker in ASD vs TC. The lower panel shows the intrinsic functional connections that were significantly stronger in ASD relative to TC red lines. Each Harvard-Oxford Atlas unit is colored based on its membership in the six functional divisions. For more information, see [ 87 ] From Di Martino et al.
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Different functional neural substrates for good and poor language outcome in autism. Neural basis of irony comprehension in children with autism: the role of prosody and context. Redcay E, Courchesne E.
Deviant functional magnetic resonance imaging patterns of brain activity to speech in year-old children with autism spectrum disorder. Attention and working memory in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a functional MRI study. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. In this paper, recent developments in the field of autism are outlined. In particular, we review the findings of the three main neuro-cognitive theories of autism: theory-of-mind deficit, weak central coherence and executive dysfunction.
Abstract Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication as well as repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. Publication types Research Support, Non-U.
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