The Talk:

A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to the Early Identification of Autism

In Plain English:

A scientist investigates the patterns of neural wiring in infants whose older siblings have autism

The Speaker:

Charles Nelson of Boston Children’s Hospital

The Sponsor:

Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT

What it covered:

Dr. Charles “Chuck” Nelson is one of the best known (and judging from the way he was introduced and addressed at this colloquium, he’s also one of the best-liked and most-respected) researchers in the field of neurological development. Before coming to Boston Children’s Hospital, he made a name for himself by working on face recognition in infants.

He stopped by the MIT Simons Center for the Social Brain colloquium to tell other researchers about his team’s latest findings in  neurological development in autistic infants (and their siblings).

He prefaced his talk by saying that he was really torn about whether this talk should focus on the more mechanistic aspects of his work (“Which neurons are firing?” & “What neurotransmitters are making them do that?” type questions) or the more descriptive aspects (questions about overall statistical trends in “at-risk” populations) of his work. Continue reading “Investigating neural patterns in the younger siblings of autistic children – Recap of talk by Dr. Charles Nelson” »