Eyes trigger a feeling of threat
7 March 2005
by Richard
Conan-Davies
|
For autistic people eye contact is difficult to cope with and now scientists have figured out most likely why. Scientists used magnetic brain scans and tracked eye movements of children who were autistic or had asperger's syndrome while showing them pictures of faces with different moods. The team noticed that part of the brain called the amygdala ( the bit that processes anxiety and fear) was particularly active for autistic children and less active for normal children when shown different faces with different moods. Dr Kim Dalton of UW-Madison's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behaviour, who led the study, told ClearlyExplained.Com News about the relationship with other milder forms of autism and said that " I think our findings relate to individuals along the entire spectrum" There may be differences in brain reactions depending on the severity of autism . Dr. Dalton told ClearlyExplained.Com News that " We are particularly interested in variation across the spectrum and so our future studies are looking at a number of dimensions of autism spectrum disorder as they may relate to variation in brain function" |
 Dr. Richard Davidson from UW-Madison department of psychiatry and psychology provided some insight into what it might be like with autism and said "Imagine walking through the world and interpreting every face that looks at you as a threat, even the face of your own mother," This research provides hope for developing better ways for autistic individuals to perhaps be helped in strategies for looking at eyes and faces without causing such extreme reactions. |
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