Brain discovery may lead to new autism treatments

Scientists have identified a part of the brain that could be treated to improve social interaction in people with autism.

A person with autism finds it hard to recognise or understand other people’s emotions and feelings, so they can fail to respond appropriately when unexpected events unfold.

Scientists from Ireland, Switzerland, and the UK discovered the brain region essential for tracking the expectations and outcomes of people’s choices.

The area called the gyrus of the anterior cingulate cortex signals when something surprising takes place for someone else, but individuals with autism lack this typical response.

The research, published in the journal Brain, is a novel insight into the biology underlying a condition that affects millions of people.

The team was led by Joshua Henk Balsters, who performed much of the research at Trinity College Dublin.

“The ability to understand how other people make decisions and what happens to them as a result is key to successful social interaction,” said Dr Balsters.

“Unfortunately, individuals with autism spectrum disorder often find it very difficult to understand why the decisions of other people have the consequences that they do, and this can lead to social problems in everyday life.”

The scientists from TCD, ETH Zurich, Oxford University, and Royal Holloway compared brain signals in two experimental groups and discovered a fundamental difference in activity between the two.

They found people with autism lacked the typical response in the brain area they identified when surprising things happen to other people, and the researchers hope it will become a new therapeutic target.

“In the future, we want to see whether pharmaceuticals or neurofeedback training — where we teach people to increase or decrease activity in the brain area — could complement existing behavioural therapies to improve social interaction,” said Dr Balsters.