ASA - THE AUTISM SOCIETY OF AMERICA - GREATER PHILADELPHIA CHAPTER
Proudly Presents
BRAIN STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION YIELD CLUES TO THE NATURE OF AUTISM
Matthew Belmonte
Place: Eastern Instructional Support Center (EISC) - King of Prussia, PA
Saturday, July 26, 1997
8:30 a.m. Registration (Coffee and Danish)
9:00 a.m. "Brain Structure and Function Yield Clues to the Nature
of Autism," Matthew Belmonte
11:15 a.m. Question and Answer Session
12:15 p.m. Conference Adjournment
The brain region most consistently observed to be abnormal in
autism is the cerebellum. Until recently this structure was regarded as
purely a device for motor control, but there has been a growing acceptance
of its role in cognition, driven in part by evidence from studies of people
with autism. In particular, lack of proper cerebellar function is
associated with difficulty in implementing rapid shifts of attention.
While this attentional difficulty produces few apparent cognitive
impairments when an adult's cerebellum is damaged, such is not the case in
autism, in which dysfunction of the cerebellum at a very young age may
perturb the development of the rest of the brain in a sort of domino effect.
This domino effect applies not only to disruptions of brain
development but also to the development of characteristically autistic
behaviors. The ability to implement rapid shifts of attention is critical
for the perception of complex scenes and interactions, in which many
aspects of sight, sound, and touch must be integrated in order to yield a
coherent mental picture of the external world. People with autism are able
to perceive only one or a few features of such a complex scene at a time,
and they therefore tend to gravitate toward routines which can be repeated
and which give one the satisfaction of predictive power, and to avoid
unpredictable, non-repetitive situations such as social interaction.
We'll highlight one approach to the study of the biology of
autism, namely, the measurement of structure and function of the living
brain. We'll present data from brain scans and from brain wave recordings
that suggest what exactly is damaged in autism and how this damage affects
the brain's electrical properties. We'll also explore the relationship of
these results to those of complementary techniques and emphases, such as
microscopic studies of brain function, biochemical and immunological
studies, and genetic studies.
The Greater Philadelphia Autism Society does not endorse individual
programs, therapies, schools, or facilities or the theories or practices of
any individual person. The presentations of speakers at Autism Society
Events are for informational purposes and should not be interpreted as
endorsements.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER:
After growing up somewhat in the shadow of his autistic older
brother, Matthew Belmonte became interested in the nature of autistic
perception, not only as a question in itself but also as a window onto the
normal processes of human perception. He splits his time between literary
and scientific explorations of this problem. He worked for four years on a
research project involving magnetic resonance imaging and
electroencephalography, in which he concentrated on the development of
computational tools for the analysis of brain images and brain electrical
signals. He holds a BS in English and computer science from Cornell
University, and an MS in neurosciences from the University of California
San Diego. He is the author of several research papers, a computer science
text, and a novel. He currently works with the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute at New York University.
(You can also view a more technical version of this talk if you wish.)