Neuroscience
Anyone who has worked with children with autism knows that, based on symptoms alone, this disorder is comprised of several different types. Yet, surprisingly, no authoritative study exists to validate this supposition. That is about to change.
For the first time ever, a long-term study of boys and girls with and without autism is being conducted. Jam-packed with scientific evaluations of each participant that will provide data scientists can use for decades to come, this study is destined to determine once and for all if there are subtypes of autism, and, if so, exactly what those…
Blythe Corbett’s insights may be unique among researchers developing new interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders – at the M.I.N.D. Institute or elsewhere. Corbett’s Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology (SENSE) lab focuses chiefly on analysis of the behavioral and biological effects of the stress hormone cortisol on children with autism. But her work is informed by the eclectic professional experience of someone with a background in autism diagnosis, brain analysis, behavioral intervention – and acting.
“Results from my studies are revealing associations between a…
MomNOS |
For me, parenting a child with autism sometimes feels like taking high school physics.
I was never a science-minded kid. I was a writer. I did theater. I was all about the liberal arts. But, science and me? We never really hit it off.
Despite that, I enrolled in AP Physics in my senior year. At the time, I was swayed by the certainty of a classmate who told me that without physics I would never make it through college – never mind through life. She’s probably a nuclear physicist now – I never thought to ask her about her plans for the future. Instead, I just took her advice and signed up for…
Researchers have identified the brain circuit that underlies our ability to resist instant gratification in order to earn a better payoff.
The effort provides insight, scientists say, into the capacity for "mental time travel," also known as episodic future thought, that enables humans to make choices with high long-term benefits. Results of the research are published in Neuron.
Several models have been proposed to explain the neural basis of assigning relative value to multiple rewards at different points in time (also known as "intertemporal decision making") in humans. Until now, however…
Mirror neurons are the cells in the brain that fire not only when we perform a particular action but also when we watch someone else perform that same action.
Neuroscientists believe this "mirroring" is the mechanism by which we can "read" the minds of others and empathize with them. It's how we "feel" someone's pain, how we discern a grimace from a grin, a smirk from a smile.
However, there was no proof that mirror neurons existed — only suspicion and indirect evidence. Now, researching writing in Current Biology say they have for the first time made a direct recording of mirror neurons in…
About a dozen teens with social-communication disorders sit in a tight circle, cradled in couches and chairs in a conference room at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute. They listen intently as Marjorie Solomon, the leader of the Institute’s social skills training program, guides them in a discussion of what it means to have and be a friend.
“What makes you trust another person?” Solomon asks. “Do you make friends easily? Do you pick friends who are similar to you?” she asks.
The answers spill out, sometimes freely, sometimes with more coaxing. “I trust other people when I know they can…
A study published in Current Biology suggests that children with Williams Syndrome are not inherently racist like the rest of the population and may help experts develop interventions designed to reduce discriminatory attitudes towards minority groups.
Previous studies have shown that stereotypes are found ubiquitously in typically developing children—as early as age 3—as they are in adults, said Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim/University of Heidelberg. Even children with autism display racial stereotypes, despite profound difficulties in daily…
Autism is an elusive disorder in all respects. Symptoms and behaviors vary greatly between individuals, and even within individuals day-to-day. Theories regarding causes and cures for autism ebb and flow throughout the media, sweeping us up daily in combative swirling tides of confusion and conviction. And even the very definition of the disorder itself is often a moving target, constantly being revisited, revised and reinterpreted.
In general terms, autism is defined as developmental disability that typically appears during the first two years of life and is the result of a neurological…
There is no link between a lack of musical ability and dyslexia, and attempts to treat dyslexia with music therapy are unwarranted, according to a study in the International Journal of Arts and Technology.
Research into dyslexia has pointed to a problem with how the brain processes sounds and how dyslexic readers manipulate the sounds from which words are composed, the phonemes, consciously and intentionally.
For many researchers, it was a relatively short step between the notion that dyslexia is an issue of phonological processing and how this might also be associated with poor musical…
Paradiz |
I have been an educator for more than 20 years, and I have been an individual with Asperger syndrome for my entire life. I wasn't always aware of my autism, and more specifically, I wasn't self-aware as an autistic person. This is because I was diagnosed only six years ago, at the age of 40. Deciding to go through with the evaluation and then finding myself labeled with Asperger syndrome was a life-altering event.
Post diagnosis, one begins to look backward, at the past, with new lenses. Sometimes this process can be painful, particularly with regard to relationships or unsuccessful…