Brain research sheds light on improved vision among autism patients ‎

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Research into the human brain has provided Canadian researchers with new

insights into how autism can affect the visual abilities of patients.

Scientists at the University of Montreal have published a study in the Human

Brain Mapping journal which collates 15 years of data on how autistic brains

react to interpreting visual data, such as faces, words and objects.

It was observed that patients affected by the mental condition exhibit more

activity in their temporal and occipital regions - areas associated with visual

detection and identification - than non-autistics, at the expense of activity in

the frontal cortex, which controls higher cognitive functions such as

decision-making.

According to researchers at the University of Montreal's Centre for Excellence

in Pervasive Development Disorders, this could help to explain why autistics

frequently demonstrate outstanding capabilities in visual tasks.

Study leader Dr t Mottron, said: " We now have a very strong statement

about autism functioning which may be ground for cognitive accounts of autistic

perception, learning, memory and reasoning. "

This research was published in the days following the fourth annual World Autism

Awareness Day, which took place on April 2nd 2011.