A new neuroimaging study has concluded that autism It is probably not caused by faulty connections with the amygdala.
Study Debunks Theory Linking Autism to Changes in the Brain’s Amygdala
A leading hypothesis about autism spectrum disorder is that people with the condition have weaker neural connections in certain regions of the brain, including the amygdala. However, researchers have found no evidence that people with autism spectrum disorder have substantially different connections in the amygdala than those found in people without autism spectrum disorder.
The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure in the brain that plays a key role in processing emotions and social signals, the researchers said. For the study, the researchers analyzed high-quality brain MRI scans of 488 people, including 212 with autism spectrum disorder.
The team focused on the neural connections that develop from the amygdala when participants were not actively engaged in any task. The results showed that the average change in amygdala connectivity was similar in people with and without autism.
The results were the same when the researchers looked at specific subregions of the amygdala, the researchers added.
The new study was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry .
“It is important to note that we do not conclude that the [connettività] of the amygdala is generally typical in autism. Instead, we conclude that the evidence for a [connettività] “Atypical amygdala findings in autism are weak at best and unreliable,” concluded researchers led by Dorit Kliemann, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Iowa.
The researchers said in a press release from the American Psychiatric Association that more brain imaging research is needed to better understand the differences between people with and without autism, calling it “an investment worth prioritizing if we are to better understand and delineate the neurobiological substrates of autism.”
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