Fear of 'shrinking' in autism

Research shows that part of the brain involved in emotional awareness and fear shrinks in people with autism. Young people and boys with autism in the study - those with the most serious social decline were found to have smaller than normal tonsils.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin hypothesize that the tonsils may shrink due to chronic stress caused by a fear of society during childhood. The study is published in the General Psychiatry Profile.

Of the 54 participants in the 8 to 25-year-old study (male), 23 had autism and 5 had Asperger's syndrome.

The size of the amygdala, two almond-shaped neuron groups located deep inside the brain is measured by MRI endoscopic techniques. Each person was also asked to do things related to social interaction such as watching the eyes and recognizing facial expressions that expressed emotions.

Men with autism have small tonsils, which are slow to distinguish the most expressive or neutral expressions and show the least fixed areas of the eye. These same individuals were the most socially inferior in early childhood.

Autism negatively affects social interaction, communication and imagination.(Photo: BBC)

The researchers also found an association with age indicating that the tonsils decreased from early childhood to early adulthood in autistic people with the most serious social decline.

Hyperactivity

Leading the research Dr. Richard Davidson said the results of the study have shown a type of autism where the brain first responds to stress caused by human fear by becoming fond of Excessive moves, which eventually lead to cell death and shrinkage.

Children with autism - those with the least difficulty when social interaction will have tonsils with lower shrinkage rates than those who struggle most. He said the results could account for more than half of the differences in social impairment for people with autism.

A previous study published by Dr. Davidson stated that siblings of people with autism who are not affected have the same differences in tonsils and how they look at faces and process information. emotions.

He said: 'At the same time, these results provide the first evidence regarding objective solutions to social impairment and related tonsil and functional structures of the brain in autism. . Find many similar differences though somewhat mild in siblings of people with autism help confirm that autism can be the most serious manifestation of a large chain of affected traits about Genetic face. '

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Center in Cambridge, said: 'This study provides important evidence that the size of the tonsils is related to the severity of autism and social skills. Now we need to find out whether this difference in nerves is observed in the earliest stage of development and what causes this unusual development. '

Thien Kim