April 22, 2011
Distinguished Lecture Series
April 22nd, 2011
Broken Mirrors, Reduced Social Motivation, and Altered Connectivity: Building Synergy Amongst Competing Theoretical Accounts of Autism
Speaker: Mirella Dapretto, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, FPR-UCLA Center for Culture, Brain and Development
UCLA Dept. of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
Location: 1000 Urban Life Building
Time: 10:30 AM
Abstract: Infants’ early biases to attend to human faces and voices likely play a pivotal role in guiding and constraining social learning and development. Conversely, the lack of such attentional preferences may significantly and negatively impact the developmental trajectory of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this talk, I will present data from a series of recent studies conducted in children with ASD, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which speak to the nature, possible causes, and consequences of these altered attentional processes in individuals with ASD. In discussing research findings showing hyporesponsivity in mirror neuron and reward circuitry as well as altered functional connectivity, I will seek to highlight the benefit of building synergy out of seemingly competing accounts of autism.
*There will be a small coffee reception at 10:00 AM preceding the lecture.