Jul 30, 2008

Syncronisation Disconnect

A new study published in the Journal of Social Neuroscience explores the mechanism for understanding social cues and the "disconnect" within the autistic brain. According to the study, inefficient pathways for transmitting information between certain brain regions are to blame.

"The communication between the frontal and posterior areas of the social brain network is impaired in autism, making it difficult to understand the intentions of others" said the study's senior author, Marcel Just, the D.O. Hebb Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon.

The study is the first to measure the synchronization between the brain areas that make up the Theory of Mind (ToM) network, which is responsible for processing the intentions and thoughts of others. It is the first to provide such concrete evidence of faulty social network connections.