Autism

Effects of oxytocin administration on salivary sex hormone levels in autistic and neurotypical women

BACKGROUND: Oxytocin administration, which may be of therapeutic value for individuals with social difficulties, is likely to affect endogenous levels of other socially relevant hormones. However, to date, the effects of oxytocin administration on …

Intrinsic excitation-inhibition imbalance affects medial prefrontal cortex differently in autistic men versus women

Excitation-inhibition (E:I) imbalance is theorized as an important pathophysiological mechanism in autism. Autism affects males more frequently than females and sex-related mechanisms (e.g., X-linked genes, androgen hormones) can influence E:I …

Altered Connectivity Between Cerebellum, Visual, and Sensory-Motor Networks in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Results from the EU-AIMS Longitudinal European Autism Project

BACKGROUND: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging-based studies on functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have generated inconsistent results. Interpretation of findings is further hampered by small samples and a …

Default mode-visual network hypoconnectivity in an autism subtype with pronounced social visual engagement difficulties

Social visual engagement difficulties are hallmark early signs of autism (ASD) and are easily quantified using eye tracking methods. However, it is unclear how these difficulties are linked to atypical early functional brain organization in ASD. With …

Enhancement of indirect functional connections with shortest path length in the adult autistic brain

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by atypical brain functional organization. Here we investigated the intrinsic indirect (semi-metric) connectivity of the functional connectome associated with autism. Resting-state functional …

A Machine Learning Approach to Reveal the NeuroPhenotypes of Autisms

Although much research has been undertaken, the spatial patterns, developmental course, and sexual dimorphism of brain structure associated with autism remains enigmatic. One of the difficulties in investigating differences between the sexes in …

Neural self-representation in autistic women and association with 'compensatory camouflaging'

Prior work has revealed sex/gender-dependent autistic characteristics across behavioural and neural/biological domains. It remains unclear whether and how neural sex/gender differences are related to behavioural sex/gender differences in autism. …

Abnormal functional activation and maturation of ventromedial prefrontal cortex and cerebellum during temporal discounting in autism spectrum disorder

People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have poor decision-making and temporal foresight. This may adversely impact on their everyday life, mental health, and productivity. However, the neural substrates underlying poor choice behavior in people …

Autism and talent: the cognitive and neural basis of systemizing

In 2003, we proposed the hypersystemizing theory of autism. The theory proposes that the human mind possesses a systemizing mechanism (SM) that helps identify lawful regularities (often causal) that govern the input-operation-output workings of a …

Hierarchical cortical transcriptome disorganization in autism

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are etiologically heterogeneous and complex. Functional genomics work has begun to identify a diverse array of dysregulated transcriptomic programs (e.g., synaptic, immune, cell cycle, DNA damage, WNT …