Imaging Study Tags Brain Regions Linked to Repetitive Behaviors

Repetitive behaviors seen in adults with autism are associated with abnormal activity in the ‘executive' brain system, which is responsible for attention, planning and for inhibiting inappropriate behaviors, according to an imaging study published in May.About 80 percent of adults with autism exhibit restricted or repetitive behavior such as hand flapping, teeth grinding, or rocking back and forth. Imaging studies on those with autism have focused primarily on language and social abilities, particularly the processing of faces.Only a few studies have tested repetitive behaviors using imaging methods because participants have to lie still during the scanning."More than three to four millimeters of head motion will invalidate an entire study," says Hofstra University neuroscientist Keith Shafritz, lead author of the new study.Read more at...SFARI, June 2008.