It is common among those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to have eye contact that is reduced. Despite eye contact being vital when it comes to socialization, scientists have been unable to previously look into the neurological grounds of actual socialization with eye contact among those with ASD. SciTechDaily reports that it is hard to imagine two different brains simultaneously.
However, Yale researchers were able to come up with a technology that enables them to imagine two individual brains in natural and live situations. Through such technology, they could pinpoint specific brain regions within the dorsal parietal area linked to ASD symptoms. Such a study suggests that the neural responses to live eye and face contact may offer some biological index that may be used to assess and classify ASD clinically.
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ASD, Eye Contact, and the Brain
Findings were included in PLOS ONE.
The researchers express how human brains long for information about other individuals. They note how important it is to understand how such mechanisms work in an interactive and real-life context among those with ASD and those without ASD.
The Yale research team analyzed the brain's activity in social interactions between adult pairs. The pairs comprised a "typical" participant and another participant with ASD. The researchers did so by utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy, an optical neuroimaging approach that is not invasive.
The researchers discovered that while having eye contact, those with ASD had significantly lower brain activity in the dorsal parietal cortex than those who did not have ASD. More than that, socialization-related ASD features, as gauged through the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) 2nd Edition, were seen to be linked to activity within the said brain region.
Brain activity in such regions was reportedly synchronous between the typical participants as they had actual eye-to-eye contact but not when gazing at the face via video. Such neural coupling increase was not seen in those with ASD and aligned with differences in social interactions.
Joy Hirsch, one of the research leaders, notes how they do not just have a more comprehensive understanding of autism and social differences' neurobiology; they also understand underlying mechanisms in the neural scale that facilitate usual social connections.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder involving continuous struggle regarding repetitive actions, restricted interests, and social communication. Certain deficits come along with each challenge.
Though the condition is considered lifelong, the level of functional impairment varies among those with ASD. Moreover, signs of the neurodevelopmental condition can be observed as early as a child's first year of age. However, such symptoms become more visible when the child reaches 2 or 3 years of age.
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