Autists and their relatives, similar but different
2006/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
They may often have the same abnormalities as autists in the brain and, however, have a completely normal behavior. Scientists have reached this conclusion by comparing the brain images of autists and their families.
These images have been obtained by MRI, and have seen that some brain areas of parents of autistic children are smaller than normal. Precisely, these areas are related to the ability to understand the emotions of the neighbor, and one of the obstacles that autists have in their relationships with others is that they do not understand the emotions of the same.
Another feature that autists have is that they prevent them from looking directly into the eyes. And they have shown that autistic brothers behave the same when they see the photos. Moreover, scientists have studied the brain area, the amygdala, related to fear and have discovered that both autists and their siblings have an amygdala between 5-10% less than normal.
In view of research results, scientists want to know why some are autistic and others do not, if they all have the same abnormalities in the brain.
