Autism may develop in the last months of the first year of life, and it may involve enlargements of certain areas of the brain, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina.

• Researchers studied 50 children with autism and 33 children without the disorder.
  
• They used brain scans and other tests when the children were ages two and four years old.
• The children with autism were more likely to have amygdala enlargements.
  
• The amygdala is a brain area associated with several functions, including processing faces and emotions.
  

Amygdala disturbances early in development disrupt the appropriate assignment of emotional significant significance to faces and social interest action, lead author Dr. Matthew W. Mosconi wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Dr. Mosconi and his colleagues plan to keep following the children in this study for several more years.

Labels: autism, brain development

Posted By: Aspen/CRC