Amygdalar Volume and Behavioral Development in Autism

Munson, Jeffrey; Dawson, Geraldine; Abbott, Robert D.; Faja, Susan; Webb, Sara Jane; Friedman, Seth D.; Shaw, Dennis; Artru, Alan A.; Dager, Stephen R.

doi:10.1001/archpsyc.63.6.686

Cited by 174 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Munson et al (2006) found that larger right amygdala volume is positively correlated with atypical social development in young children with autism. However, other neuroimaging studies of social perception in autism have suggested that such findings may be related to task-specific characteristics such as the familiarity of the face stimuli (Pierce et al, 2004; see also Hadjikhani et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Findings from anatomical, behavioral, and functional neuroimaging studies in autism have suggested abnormal structure and function of the amygdala (Baron-Cohen et al, 2000;Munson et al, 2006), although there remain many inconsistencies in results and in interpretation. Kemper (1985, 1988) published seminal findings of normal volume but smaller neuron size and increased cell density in the amygdala as well as several other brain regions of autopsied brains of people with autism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Intact emotion facilitation for nonsocial stimuli in autism: Is amygdala impairment in autism specific for social information?

South

Ozonoff

Suchy

et al. 2007

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

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Atypical amygdala development may play a key role in the emergence of social disability and other symptoms of autism (Baron-Cohen et al., 2000;Schultz, 2005). The mechanisms by which this may occur have received little attention, however, and most support from behavioral and imaging studies has been concerned with socially relevant stimuli such as faces. Given the complexity of amygdala function and its known role in many other emotional tasks, we examined whether individuals with autism would demonstrate impaired performance on several tasks that have been shown to require activation of the amygdala but that do not have any explicit social meaning. Relative to a typical comparison group matched for age and IQ, our sample of 37 adolescents and adults with autism (mean age 5 19.7 years) demonstrated equivalent facilitation for perception and learning of emotionally relevant stimuli. On each of four tasks, there were significant main effects of emotion condition on performance for both groups. Future research regarding atypical amygdala function and emotion processing in autism should consider whether the response to nonsocial emotion factors (including negative valence or high arousal) may be intact, despite difficulties in responding to socially relevant stimuli. (JINS, 2008, 14, 42-54.)

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intact emotion facilitation for nonsocial stimuli in autism: Is amygdala impairment in autism specific for social information?

South

Ozonoff

Suchy

et al. 2007

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another study ) used a limited age group of 3-4 year old children and similarly to Schumann et al found increased bilateral amygdala volumes. In a further study using the same subject group as Sparks et al (Munson et al, 2006) increased right amygdala volume was found to be inversely correlated to social and communicative function. These studies suggest that amygdala enlargement may be a direct function of development, similar to atypical growth patterns of grey matter and TBV in autism.…”

Section: Amygdalamentioning

confidence: 64%

“…To date, findings on amygdala structure in autism have been mixed, with studies indicating reduced (Aylward et al, 1999;Pierce et al, 2001;Rojas et al, 2004) and increased (Abell et al, 1999;Howard et al, 2000;Munson et al, 2006;Schumann et al, 2004;Sparks et al, 2002) volumes, as well as nonsignificant differences (Herbert et al, 2003). Of those reporting decreased amygdala size, the first (Aylward et al, 1999) reported reductions in absolute and relative volume after adjusting for TBV, suggesting a disproportionate decrease.…”

Section: Amygdalamentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Autism

Koyama

2009

Act Nerv Super

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With increased recognition in the media, heightened prevalence, and advances in research technologies, investigation into the causes of autism has broadened in recent years. Studies at the molecular, structural, and behavioral levels have resulted in significant findings, linking autism to qualitative differences in neurological function and an alteration of early development. Familial aggregation of autism demonstrates a strong genetic factor, although genetics can not completely account for its pathogenesis. Studies show autism having one of the most complex pathologies among neurodevelopmental disorders. Future studies applying sophisticated methodologies in new areas may shed light on current mysteries surrounding the disorder.

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“…Autism is a disorder in which the patients often show an unwillingness to have any social interactions [99,101]. Based on the observation on the morphological changes of the amygdala, it was found that there was a significantly decreased volume of the patients with autism [102]. The volume change of the amygdala may be due to decrease in neurogenesis or decreased in pruning of neurons [99,103].…”

Section: Amygdala and Cortex: Non-traditional Neurogenic Regions And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurogenic hypothesis and psychiatric disorders

Lau

Lee

2013

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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Psychiatric illness, such as affective disorders, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, exerts exceptional personal burden on affected individuals. Although not physically noticeable, these disorders cost enormously on ones' family and society. Currently pharmaceutical and psychological treatments are generally accepted as effective for psychiatric disorders, while the exact mechanisms underlying the treatment efficacy, etiology and neurobiology of the disorders remain elusive. In the past decade, "neurogenic hypothesis" emerged as an attempt to explain the nature of psychiatric illness. The origination of the hypothesis is based on several pre-clinical and clinical observations. First, stress, which is a common risk factor of the disorders, was found to suppress neurogenesis; second, treatment for the illnesses like antidepressants and antipsychotics were shown to improve neurogenesis and behavioral deficits simultaneously; and third, the therapeutic effect of antidepressants was abolished in animal models when neurogenesis was blocked. Increasing efforts were invested to determine whether neurogenesis is a key to the understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders, although contrasting results are also found and thus the importance of neurogenesis remains a matter of debate. The present chapter will discuss the recent findings about the involvement of neurogenesis in major depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, and whether neurogenesis would be a potential target for development of the treatment in the future.neurogenesis, psychiatric disorders, major depression, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, hippocampus, amygdala, subventricular zone Citation:

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Amygdalar Volume and Behavioral Development in Autism

Cited by 174 publications

References 49 publications

Intact emotion facilitation for nonsocial stimuli in autism: Is amygdala impairment in autism specific for social information?

Intact emotion facilitation for nonsocial stimuli in autism: Is amygdala impairment in autism specific for social information?

A Review on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Autism

Neurogenic hypothesis and psychiatric disorders

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