It’s the first test to diagnose the behavioral disorder using brain wave patterns, but it won’t be the last. The idea of reading the brain’s activity for clues to mental illness is gaining ground.
Autism
Mother’s Antibodies May Explain a Quarter of Autism Cases
A test for six antibodies in an expectant mom’s blood may predict with more than 99% certainty which children are at highest risk of developing autism.
How Healthy Are IVF Babies?
Millions of babies have been born via in vitro fertilization (IVF), and researchers are just starting to document some of the lasting effects the process may have on early development.
Brain Scans Could Become EKGs for Mental Disorders
If EKGs can detect potential problems in heart function, then doctors are asking why brain scans can’t be used in the same way, to identify disorders like depression, autism or schizophrenia.
Unique Brain Pattern Could Predict Autism in Youngest Children
Genetic changes are almost certainly behind many cases of autism, and the latest research suggests that some of those alterations may be contributing to more densely connected networks of brain nerves.
Prenatal Exposure to Pollution Raises Risk of Autism in Kids
Pollutants in the air are known to affect brain development, but the first national study of in utero exposure and autism rates raises new concerns.
Creativity Linked With Deficit in Mental Flexibility
Creative types are often seen as rather flaky — their minds leaping wildly from one bizarre idea to another, ever seeking inspiration. But a new study suggests that people who actually achieve creative success have minds that …
Autistic Children’s Brain Responses To Words Predict Their Developmental Outcomes
Language can prove a bugaboo for children with autism. Now new research finds that it’s possible to use toddlers’ brain responses to words to predict their linguistic and cognitive skills down the road.
Researchers from the …
The Key to a High IQ? Not Getting Distracted
A new study suggests that intelligence is more about what the brain chooses to ignore than simply its ability to process information rapidly.
Excerpt: Author Temple Grandin Reports on The Autistic Brain
Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, eloquently described life from the perspective of someone living with autism in her memoir, Thinking in Pictures, which served as the basis for an
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Q&A: Temple Grandin on the Autistic Brain
Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, was one of the first autistic people to chronicle her life with the condition— and is now a bestselling author and well known for her innovative …
Mental Health Researchers Reject Psychiatry’s New Diagnostic ‘Bible’
Just weeks before psychiatry’s new diagnostic “bible”—the DSM 5— is set to be released, the world’s major funder of mental health research has announced that it will not use the new diagnostic system to guide its …
Multiple Vaccinations on Same Day Does Not Raise Autism Risk
Infants now receive several shots at a time, but the latest study says that does not increase their risk of developing autism.