"Functional imaging of social communication deficits in autism and relation to autism risk genes"

This talk will present several functional MRI studies of children with autism that examine critical aspects of the autism spectrum, particularly those involved with social communication. Data from artificial languageacquisition, implicit learning, reward responsiveness, and imitation/observation of affect, suggest a relatively circumscribed network of brain regions consistently affected in autism. I will argue that a primary deficit in striatal mediated reward systems underlies the socialmotivation deficit in autism, affecting implicit learning systems involved in language acquisition and social skills development. The relationship between abnormalities in these brain regions and autism risk genes will also be presented.