Individuals with ASD have been shown to have different pattern of functional connectivity. In this study, brain activity of participants with many and few autistic traits, was recorded using an fNIRS device, as participants preformed an interpersonal synchronization task. This type of task involves synchronization and functional connectivity of…

Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) combined with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms (ADHD + ASD) have poorer social and emotional functioning than those with ADHD alone. However, no studies have specifically examined the associations between ASD symptoms, measures of social and emotional functioning and limbic…

Although a growing literature highlights sex differences in autism spectrum disorder clinical presentation, less is known about female variants at the neural level. We investigated sex-related patterns of functional connectivity within and between functional networks in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, compared to typically…

Responses to infant signals are critical to infant development and well-being. However, brain mechanisms underlying paternal responses to infant crying are still largely unknown. Here using EEG, we investigated brain activations in two different groups, 10 fathers and 10 non-fathers, in response to infant-related sounds: typically developing…

The mirror neuron system has been argued to be a key brain system responsible for action understanding and imitation. Subsequently, mirror neuron system dysfunction has therefore been proposed to explain the social deficits manifested within autism spectrum condition, an approach referred to as the broken mirror hypothesis. Despite excitement…

Although prior studies have demonstrated reduced resting state EEG coherence in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), no studies have explored the nature of EEG coherence during joint attention. We examined the EEG coherence of the joint attention network in adolescents with and without ASD during congruent and incongruent joint attention…

Diffusion tensor imaging studies show white matter (WM) abnormalities in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, investigations are often limited by small samples, particularly problematic given the heterogeneity of ASD. We explored WM using DTI in a large sample of 130 children and adolescents (7-15 years) with and without ASD,…

We studied autistics by quantitative EEG spectral and coherence analysis during three experimental conditions: basal, watching a cartoon with audio (V-A), and with muted audio band (VwA). Significant reductions were found for the absolute power spectral density (PSD) in the central region for delta and theta, and in the posterior region for sigma…

Abnormal fMRI habituation in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) has been proposed as a critical component in social impairment. This study investigated habituation to fearful faces and houses in ASD and whether fMRI measures of brain activity discriminate between ASD and typically developing (TD) controls. Two identical fMRI runs presenting masked…

This study examined whether the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills ("PEERS: Social skills for teenagers with developmental and autism spectrum disorders: The PEERS treatment manual," Routledge, New York, 2010a) affected neural function, via EEG asymmetry, in a randomized controlled trial of adolescents with…

Previous studies have observed evoked response latency as well as gamma band superior temporal gyrus (STG) auditory abnormalities in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A limitation of these studies is that associations between these two abnormalities, as well as the full extent of oscillatory phenomena in ASD in terms of frequency…

Motor stereotypies are defined as patterned, repetitive, purposeless movements. These stigmatizing motor behaviors represent one manifestation of the third core criterion for an Autistic Disorder (AD) diagnosis, and are becoming viewed as potential early markers of autism. Moreover, motor stereotypies might be a tangible expression of the…

The duplication of the Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS) region (7q11.23) is a copy number variant associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the most intriguing aspects is that the reciprocal microdeletion causes WBS, characterized by hypersociability, marked empathy, and a relative capacity in verbal short-term memory and language.…

The Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most frequent form of inherited mental disability and is considered a monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorder. FXS is caused by a triplet expansion that inhibits the expression of the "FMR1" gene. The gene product, the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP), regulates mRNA metabolism in brain…

Face processing has been studied and discussed in depth during previous decades in several branches of science, and evidence from research supports the view that this process is a highly specialized brain function. Several authors argue that difficulties in the use and comprehension of the information conveyed by human faces could represent a core…