Toddlers with autism show enlarged amygdala, a portion of the brain that processes faces and emotions, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Matthew Mosconi and his colleagues used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to scan the brains of 50 children with autistic spectrum disorders and 30 children without the the disorders. All the children were between the ages of two and four.

"Alterations of the amygdala may be associated with the core deficits of autism," Dr. Mosconi said in the May issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

Labels: autism, research

Posted By: Aspen/CRC