The cognitive neuroscience of autism -- Baron-Cohen 75 (7): 945 -- Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. S Baron-Cohen Correspondence to: S Baron-Cohen Autism Research Centre, Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Douglas House, Cambridge CB2 2AH, UK; sb205@cam.ac.uk autism The psychology and biology of a complex developmental condition Autism is diagnosed when a child or adult has abnormalities in a “triad” of behavioural domains: social development, communication, and repetitive behaviour/obsessive interests.1,2 Autism can occur at any point on the IQ continuum, and IQ is a strong predictor of outcome.3 Autism is also invariably accompanied by language delay (no single words before 2 years old). Asperger syndrome (AS)4 is a subgroup on the autistic spectrum. People with AS share many of the same features as are seen in autism, but with no history of language delay and with an IQ in the average range or above.
In this editorial, the main cognitive theories of autism are summarised. Figure 1 The triad of impairments in autism Figure 2 Neurophysiology. Cognitive skills in children with autism vary and improve, study finds - UCL Institute of Education, University College London. 15 September 2010 People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to have a specific profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses—difficulties appreciating others' thoughts and feelings, problems regulating and controlling their behavior, and an enhanced ability to perceive details— but few studies have tracked children's cognitive skills over time. Now new longitudinal research provides clues that can inform our understanding of ASD. "Parents and clinicians already know that the behavioral signs of ASD wax and wane throughout development," notes Elizabeth Pellicano, senior lecturer of autism education at the Institute of Education in London, who carried out the study.
"What we know a lot less about is how the cognitive skills of children with ASD change over time. In this study, we found that these skills vary from child to child, and also that some of them can improve over time. " "These findings are encouraging," notes Pellicano. Cognition and behavior: Language defect identified in autism — Language comprehension: Low-functioning children with autism differ from those with intellectual disability alone in that they understand less than their verbal ability suggests. Children who have both autism and intellectual disability may understand fewer words than their speaking skills suggest, which is not the case for typically developing children or those with intellectual disability alone.
The results were published 21 February in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders1. Language impairment is a core symptom of autism, and may be closely tied with social deficits, another key feature of the disorder. For example, children whose attention is not focused on their parents and caregivers might not pick up on the cues required for language learning. There is also a close relationship between problems with theory of mind, the ability to understand the thoughts and beliefs of others, and language impairment. 1: Maljaars J. et al.
Cognition in autism: one deficit or many? Ss15205.pdf. DSM-IV-Defined Asperger Syndrome: Cognitive, Behavioral and Early History Differentiation from High-Functioning Autism. Developmental Trajectories in Siblings of Children with Autism: Cognition and Language from 4 Months to 7 Years. Autism: beyond “theory of mind” Other minds in the brain: a functional imaging study of “theory of mind” in story comprehension. A Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UKb MRC Cognitive Development Unit, 4 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BT, UKc Royal Free Hospital Medical School, Roland Hill St, London NW3, UKd Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower St, London WC1E 6BT, UK Received 16 August 1995, Revised 20 October 1995, Available online 5 April 2000 Choose an option to locate/access this article: Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Check access Get rights and content The ability of normal children and adults to attribute independent mental states to self and others in order to explain and predict behaviour (“theory of mind”) has been a focus of much recent research.
Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ? <div pearltreesdevid="PTD139" role="alert" class="alert-message-container"><div pearltreesdevid="PTD140" aria-hidden="true" class="alert-message-body"><span pearltreesdevid="PTD141" style="display: inline-block;" class="Icon IconAlert"><svg pearltreesDevId="PTD142" style="width: 100%; height: 100%;" width="24" height="24" focusable="false" tabindex="-1" fill="currentColor"><path pearltreesDevId="PTD143" fill="#f80" d="M11.84 4.63c-.77.05-1.42.6-1.74 1.27-1.95 3.38-3.9 6.75-5.85 10.13-.48.83-.24 1.99.53 2.56.7.6 1.66.36 2.5.41 3.63 0 7.27.01 10.9-.01 1.13-.07 2.04-1.28 1.76-2.39-.1-.58-.56-1.02-.81-1.55-1.85-3.21-3.69-6.43-5.55-9.64-.42-.52-1.06-.83-1.74-.79z"></path><path pearltreesDevId="PTD144" d="M11 8h2v5h-2zM11 14h2v2h-2z"></path></svg></span><!
-- react-text: 57 -->JavaScript is disabled on your browser. Please enable JavaScript to use all the features on this page. <! -- /react-text --></div></div> Abstract Résumé Check Access Recommended articles Citing articles (0) Sciencedirect. To view the full text, please login as a subscribed user or purchase a subscription. Click here to view the full text on ScienceDirect. Figure 1 Estimated linear trends (on the basis of the mixed regression analysis) across time in the dichotomized scores of the affective speech comprehension as a function of condition (Oxytocin vs. Placebo) and order of administration (Oxytocin First vs. Placebo First). Background Oxytocin dysfunction might contribute to the development of social deficits in autism, a core symptom domain and potential target for intervention. Methods Oxytocin and placebo challenges were administered to 15 adult subjects diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s disorder, and comprehension of affective speech (happy, indifferent, angry, and sad) in neutral content sentences was tested.
Results Conclusions. Sciencedirect. To view the full text, please login as a subscribed user or purchase a subscription. Click here to view the full text on ScienceDirect. Fig. 1 Region of maximum activity in the region of the anterior paracingulate cortex elicited when subjects adopted an ‘intentional stance’. This image displays group data mapped onto a template brain. Fig. 2 The points of maximum activity in the anterior cingulate cortex found to be associated with autonomic arousal, cognitive demand and response conflict displayed with the same data from theory-of-mind studies in the anterior paracingulate cortex. Fig. The sabotage and deception task. Abstract Our ability to explain and predict other people's behaviour by attributing to them independent mental states, such as beliefs and desires, is known as having a ‘theory of mind’.
To access this article, please choose from the options below Purchase access to this article You must be logged in to purchase this article. Claim Access Subscribe to this title. Intentional attunement: A neurophysiological perspective on social cognition and its disruption in autism. Volume 1079, Issue 1, 24 March 2006, Pages 15–24 Multiple Perspectives on the Psychological and Neural Bases of Understanding Other People's Behavior Edited By Jennifer Beer, Jason Mitchell and Kevin Ochsner Research Report Vittorio Gallese Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43100 Parma, Italy Accepted 11 January 2006, Available online 28 February 2006 Choose an option to locate/access this article: Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Check access doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2006.01.054 Get rights and content Abstract A direct form of experiential understanding of others, “intentional attunement”, is achieved by modeling their behavior as intentional experiences on the basis of the activation of shared neural systems underpinning what the others do and feel and what we do and feel.
Keywords Autism; Embodied simulation; Intentional attunement; Mirror neuron; Shared manifold; Social cognition Copyright © 2006 Elsevier B.V. PsycNET - Display Record. Sciencedirect. To view the full text, please login as a subscribed user or purchase a subscription. Click here to view the full text on ScienceDirect. Objective To determine whether subtypes of children with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) differed on variables that were relatively independent of distinguishing criteria. Method Higher-functioning children with PDD, 4 through 6 years of age, were differentiated into those with autism (n = 47) and those with Asperger's syndrome (n = 21) on the basis of delayed and deviant language development. Results Significant differences between the groups existed on many PDD symptoms, adaptive behaviors, and cognitive measures of language competence, but not on aspects of nonverbal communication, nonverbal cognition, or motor development.
Conclusion Subtypes of children with PDD can be identified that differ on variables relatively independent of defining characteristics. To access this article, please choose from the options below. Empathy and Cognition in High-Functioning Children with Autism - Yirmiya - 2008 - Child Development. Brain imaging research is often wrong. This researcher wants to change that. When neuroscientists stuck a dead salmon in an fMRI machine and watched its brain light up, they knew they had a problem. It wasn't that there was a dead fish in their expensive imaging machine; they'd put it there on purpose, after all. It was that the medical device seemed to be giving these researchers impossible results. Dead fish should not have active brains.
The lit of brain of a dead salmon — a cautionary neuroscience tale. (University of California Santa Barbara research poster) The researchers shared their findings in 2009 as a cautionary tale: If you don't run the proper statistical tests on your neuroscience data, you can come up with any number of implausible conclusions — even emotional reactions from a dead fish. In the 1990s, neuroscientists started using the massive, round fMRI (or functional magnetic resonance imaging) machines to peer into their subjects' brains.
When other scientists try to reproduce the results of original studies, they too often fail. Neuroimaging. Para-sagittal MRI of the head in a patient with benign familial macrocephaly. Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/pharmacology of the nervous system. It is a relatively new discipline within medicine and neuroscience/psychology.[1] Physicians who specialize in the performance and interpretation of neuroimaging in the clinical setting are neuroradiologists. Neuroimaging falls into two broad categories: Structural imaging, which deals with the structure of the nervous system and the diagnosis of gross (large scale) intracranial disease (such as tumor), and injury, andFunctional imaging, which is used to diagnose metabolic diseases and lesions on a finer scale (such as Alzheimer's disease) and also for neurological and cognitive psychology research and building brain-computer interfaces.
Functional imaging enables, for example, the processing of information by centers in the brain to be visualized directly. Functional imaging. Functional imaging is the study of human brain function based on analysis of data acquired using brain imaging modalities such as Electroencephalography (EEG), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or Optical Imaging. The aim is to understand how the brain works, in terms of its physiology, functional architecture and dynamics. The framework for the conduct of these studies includes classical techniques of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and experimental psychology and the cognitive neurosciences, as well as more theoretical approaches, based on perspectives from computational neuroscience and statistics.
Modern functional imaging has two main advantages over the multi/single-unit recordings used to study the electrophysiology of neurons. The first is that it is generally non-invasive, and is therefore applicable routinely in humans. This allows for the study of unique human attributes such as language. Modalities. MRI? fMRI? PET scans? | Yahoo Answers. MRI is a technology for imaging sections of the body that uses an interesting physical property of matter in response to powerful magnetic fields. The magnetic field is manipulated and the tissues of the body actually give off radio waves in response. The rest of the process is basically a very complicated radio directional finder that figures out exactly how much radio signal is coming from which spot in the body. The computer then draws a series of black and white pictures that look like what would be seen if the human body was sliced like a loaf of bread. MRI is very useful for defining the size shape and location of cancerous tumors in organs, and showing the location of ligament tears around joints.
It makes great pictures of muscle and soft tissue. MRI is a tool for planning surgery. fMRI is "functional" MRI. PET scans are very different than MRI. SPECT vs MRI, fMRI & PET | Daniel G. Amen, MD | Amen Clinics. Download?rep=rep1&type=pdf&doi=10.1.1.9. Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory - Neuroimaging. When analyzing the averaged, stimulus-locked EEG signal, a number of waveforms (‘peaks’) can be identified, and characterized by their polarity, order of occurrence, and origin. Components are labeled by their polarity (Positive or Negative) and relative order/time (1 or 100) such that the first positive deflection of an ERP curve is commonly labeled P1, or P100, and they are divided into exogenous or endogenous categories. The exogenous, or early, components of the ERP curve are more a reflection of the initial neural processing of the physical characteristics of a stimulus.
These responses are automatic responses to the stimulus and, hence, the magnitudes of these exogenous components are not very dependent on the cognitive processing of the stimulus. The endogenous, or later, components are a more accurate reflection of the neural processing, or cognitive handling of a stimulus. We are using an ActiveTwo EEG system, consisting of active electrodes, and a flexible headcap. CBF changes during brain activation: fMRI vs. PET. EEG vs MRI, fMRI and PET -Epilepsy Awareness Program - Middle East Medical Information Center and Directory. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive test for epilepsy during which several electrodes are placed on a patient's scalp to record electrical impulses from the brain (brain waves). It is sometimes called a brain wave test, used for testing patients with epilepsy, a brain tumor, a brain abscess, brain trauma, subdural hematoma, meningitis, encephalitis, stroke or congenital defects of the brain.
It is performed by using a device that measures the fluctuations and patterns in electrical processes within the brain. More information on EEG MRI is a magnetic resonance imaging: the use of nuclear magnetic resonance of protons to produce proton density images. It is a type of diagnostic imaging that uses electromagnetic imaging and allows evaluation of tissues and fluid in addition to bone. This imaging providing two dimensional cuts through the body part being study which allows a physician to develop a three dimensional sense of the anatomy of that part. More information on MRI. PET Scans and fMRI Compared. Neuroimaging of autism. Neuroimaging and Autism :: DNA Learning Center. What Neuroimaging has Taught us about the Brain in Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Selected Review — NDCN. 10. Npy.12. Quinton Deeley Neuroimaging in disorders of social cognition.
Review of neuroimaging in autism spectrum disorders: what have we learned and where we go from here. Untitled. Autistic-spectrum disorders: lessons from neuroimaging | The British Journal of Psychiatry. Brain Scans Show Differences in Adults With Autism. Autism – Say NO to MRI and PET Scans for Diagnosis | The Ali Academy Community. Brain Scans Show Differences in Adults With Autism. Brain Trauma, PET Scans and Forensic Complexity - PsychSource. Controlling attention to gaze and arrows in childhood: an fMRI study of typical development and Autism Spectrum Disorders - PsychSource. Functional brain imaging of childhood clinical disorders with PET and SPECT - PsychSource. Young children with autism show atypical brain responses to fearful versus neutral facial expressions of emotion - PsychSource.
Brain imaging: Applications in psychiatry - PsychSource. What kind of a person volunteers for a free brain scan? Problems with brain imaging papers. Brain imaging and individual talents.
fMRI. Sciencedirect. Appi.ajp.157.12. Autism can be diagnosed with brain scan – study | Science.