ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Health → Mind & Brain

No two autistic brains are alike – each has unique connections

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
January 27, 2015
in Mind & Brain, News
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

For most people, brains are pretty similar – our connections follow the same pattern, and while there are certainly exceptions, you could say that our brains are connected in pretty much the same way. But for autistic people, things are very different. A new study has found that each autistic brain has unique, highly idiosyncratic connections.

Image: The networks in your brain. Credit: NIH

We’re only starting to scratch the surface when it comes to understanding autism. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder with various characteristics. The most usual are impaired social interaction as well as verbal and non-verbal communication. Autism is often accompanied by repetitive or compulsive behavior. An estimated 60%–80% of autistic people have motor signs that include poor muscle tone, poor motor planning, and toe walking.

However, we still don’t know what’s causing it and what can be done to treat it. For these reasons, studies such as this one are very important, because they show what happens inside the brains of people suffering from autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). What this study revealed is that unlike the relative monotony of non-autistic humans, people with ASD come in stark contrast – each brain is different.

Avital Hahamy and Prof. Rafi Malach of the Weizmann Institute’s Neurobiology Department, and Prof. Marlene Behrmann of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh analyzed data from fMRI studies from a large number of resting volunteers.

“Resting-state brain studies are important,” says Hahamy, “because that is when patterns emerge spontaneously, allowing us to see how various brain areas naturally connect and synchronize their activity.” A number of previous studies in Malach’s group and others suggest that these spontaneous patterns may provide a window into individual behavioral traits, including those that stray from the norm and are associated with ASD.

[Also read: Child prodigies and autism are linked, study finds]

In people without the disorder, they found very similar patterns. In other words, if you would superimpose one scan on top of the other, the levels of connectivity would be basically the same across the various regions of the brain. But when they did the same thing with the brains of people with ASD, they couldn’t find similarities between any two participants. They couldn’t even split the brains up into sub-groups because the way the networks were arranged was so individualised! This study not only shows a remarkable particularity of ASD brains, but may shed some light on the very nature of the disorder.

“Our results reveal a new and robust abnormality in the ASD connectivity, which relates to the topographical nature of the functional connectivity patterns rather than to their overall strength,” the team reports in the journal Nature Neuroscience.“Specifically, we found that the canonical pattern of functional connectivity seen in typical controls showed significant and individually distinct (idiosyncratic) distortions in participants with ASD.”

The team is not certain what causes ASD brains to be so different, but judging by the fMRIs, they believe it has something to do with how people interact with the environment which surrounds them.

RelatedPosts

MRI study shows how Beatboxing really works — and it’s crazy
All two-year-olds seem to sound pretty much the same to adults
A simple sniff test might diagnose autism in toddlers
Highly controversial brain scan predicts whether criminals are likely to reoffend

“From a young age, the average, typical person’s brain networks get moulded by intensive interaction with people and the mutual environmental factors,” says Hahamy in the press release. “Such shared experiences could tend to make the synchronisation patterns in the control group’s resting brains more similar to each other. It is possible that in ASD, as interactions with the environment are disrupted, each one develops a more uniquely individualistic brain organisation pattern.”

 

Tags: autismbrainfMRI

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

Home science

What side do cats prefer to sleep on? The left side, and there’s a good reason for that

byMihai Andrei
1 week ago
Close-up photo of a tiny wasp.
Animals

Wasp Mums Keep Remarkable Mental To-Do List For Multiple Nests Despite Tiny Brain

byRupendra Brahambhatt
1 week ago
Mind & Brain

Your Brain Uses Only 5% More Energy Whether You’re Actively Thinking or Not. So, What Causes Mental Fatigue?

byTibi Puiu
4 weeks ago
Future

Can you upload a human mind into a computer? Here’s what a neuroscientist has to say about it

byDobromir Rahnev
1 month ago

Recent news

Your gut has a secret weapon against ‘forever chemicals’: microbes

July 3, 2025

High IQ People Are Strikingly Better at Forecasting the Future

July 3, 2025

Newborns Feel Pain Long Before They Can Understand It

July 3, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.