RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
  Anorexia Nervosa
  Anxiety
  Bulimia
  CFS
  Child Psychiatry
  Depression
  Forensic Psychiatry
  Learning-Disabilities
   Autism
  Mood Disorders
  Neuropsychiatry
  Peri-Natal Psychiatry
  Personality Disorders
  Psychology
  Psychoses
  Psychotherapy
  Sleep Disorders
  Substance Abuse
  Suicide
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Autism Channel

subscribe to Autism newsletter
Latest Research : Psychiatry : Learning-Disabilities : Autism

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Findings pinpoint mechanism behind social deficits in autism

Dec 5, 2005 - 4:20:00 AM
"Our findings suggest that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may underlie the social deficits observed in autism. Together with other recent data, our results provide strong support for a mirror neuron theory of autism. This is exciting because we finally have an account that can explain all core symptoms of this disorder."

 
[RxPG] New imaging research at UCLA detailed Dec. 4 as an advance online publication of the journal Nature Neuroscience shows children with autism have virtually no activity in a key part of the brain's mirror neuron system while imitating and observing emotions.

Mirror neurons fire when a person performs a goal-directed action and while he or she observes the same action performed by others. Neuroscientists believe this observation-execution matching system provides a neural mechanism by which others' actions, intentions and emotions can be understood automatically.

Symptoms of autism include difficulties with social interaction -- including verbal and nonverbal communication -- imitation and empathy. The new findings dramatically bolster a growing body of evidence pointing to a breakdown of the brain's mirror neuron system as the mechanism behind these autism symptoms.

"Our findings suggest that a dysfunctional mirror neuron system may underlie the social deficits observed in autism," said Mirella Dapretto, lead author and assistant professor in residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Together with other recent data, our results provide strong support for a mirror neuron theory of autism. This is exciting because we finally have an account that can explain all core symptoms of this disorder."

Conducted at the Semel Institute's Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, the research used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity in 10 high-functioning children with autism while they imitated and observed 80 photos depicting different emotions such as anger, fear, happiness or sadness. In addition, the brain activity of 10 typically developing children was studied while performing the same tasks.

Separately, symptom severity of each child with autism was tested using two independent measures (the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule -- Generic, and the Autism Diagnostic Interview).

The study shows that unlike typically developing children, children with autism have virtually no activity in the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, identified by previous research as a key part of the mirror neuron system. Importantly, the level of mirror neuron activity seen in children with autism was inversely related to symptom severity in the social domain.

Children with autism also showed reduced activity in the emotion centers of the brain, consistent with the hypothesis that this mirroring mechanism may play a crucial role for understanding how others feel and for empathizing with them.

All of the children rehearsed the tasks prior to the fMRI scans to assure researchers they could perform the tasks. Both groups performed equally well. Normal brain activity in areas of the brain involving sight and facial movements indicated that the children with autism remained on task during the fMRI scans.



Publication: Nature Neuroscience
On the web: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Autism News
Behavioural signs of autism become evident between the ages of 6 and 12 months
Autism clusters indentified in California
Increase in the number of children born in California with autism
Ordinary Words Hardly Recognised in Autism
Babies who don't respond to their names may be at risk for developmental disorders, including autism
Autism costs society an estimated $3M per patient
Infants with autistic siblings may display early social, communication problems
'The eyes have it' -- Autism research yields surprising results
New genetic clues to autism revealed
Autism linked to paternal age

Subscribe to Autism Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
The research was funded primarily by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development as part of the Collaborative Programs for Excellence in Autism.

In addition to Dapretto, the UCLA research team included Marco Iacoboni, Susan Bookheimer, Marian Sigman, Mari Davies, Jennifer Pfeifer and Ashley A. Scott. The team represents the Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center at the Semel Institute, the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Geffen School of Medicine, and the department of psychology at the UCLA College of Letters and Science.
 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)