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Eye Gaze in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review of Neural Evidence for the Eye Avoidance HypothesisReduced eye contact early in life may play a role in the developmental pathways that culminate in a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. However, there are contradictory theories regarding the neural mechanisms involved. According to the amygdala theory of autism, reduced eye contact results from a hypoactive amygdala that fails to flag eyes as salient. However, the eye avoidance hypothesis proposes the opposite-that amygdala hyperactivity causes eye avoidance. This review evaluated studies that measured the relationship between eye gaze and activity in the 'social brain' when viewing facial stimuli.
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An investigation of a novel broad autism phenotype: increased facial masculinity among parents of children on the autism spectrumThe broad autism phenotype commonly refers to sub-clinical levels of autistic-like behaviour and cognition presented in biological relatives of autistic people. In a recent study, we reported findings suggesting that the broad autism phenotype may also be expressed in facial morphology, specifically increased facial masculinity.
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Brief Report: Do the Nature of Communication Impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorders Relate to the Broader Autism Phenotype in Parents?This research explored the relationship between the broader autism phenotype (BAP) among parents, an index of genetic liability for ASD, and proband...
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Andrew Whitehouse: environmental links to autismDr Andrew Whitehouse says results from a US study are just the first step when it comes to looking for environmental factors related to autism.
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Sexually dimorphic facial features vary according to level of autistic-like traits in the general populationThe current data provide support for Bejerot et al.'s androgyny account since males and females with high levels of autistic-like traits generally showed...
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Moving beyond behaviour-only assessment: Incorporating biomarkers to improve the early detection and diagnosis of autism spectrum disordersThis paper presents a response to the Camarata (2014) lead article regarding the accuracy and effectiveness of early identification and early intervention...
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High use of complementary and alternative medication among children with autism is not associated with the severity of core symptomsThis study provided evidence for high rate of alternative medicine use in an Australian paediatric ASD population, similar to other countries.
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Genome-wide association study of autistic-like traits in a general population study of young adultsResearch has proposed that autistic-like traits in the general population lie on a continuum, with clinical ASD representing the extreme end of this...
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Maternal Conditions and Perinatal Characteristics Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual DisabilityFindings show that indicators of a poor intrauterine environment are associated with an elevated risk of ID, while for ASD, and particularly ASD without ID,...