Failure to deactivate in autism: the co-constitution of self and other.
A new brain imaging study demonstrates that patients with autism have a strikingly different pattern of brain activity compared with control subjects. During cognitive tasks, cortical areas known as the "default state" network--areas that have been implicated in both self-referential processing and processing of socially relevant information--typically reduce their brain activity. In patients with autism, such a reduction was not observed. This new finding indicates that a core deficit in autism might be related to the construal of a sense of self in its relationship with others and will certainly generate exciting new research on the neurobiology of autism.
Iacoboni
Marco
M
Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, NeuroPsychiatric Institute, Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. iacoboni@loni.ucla.edu
D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004532:Ego; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D012919:Social Behavior