Building a social neuroscience of autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an early onset neurodevelopmental disorder marked by impairments in reciprocal social interaction, communication, and the presence of repetitive or restricted interests and behaviors. Despite great phenotypic heterogeneity and etiologic diversity in ASD, social dysfunction is the unifying feature of ASD. This chapter focuses on understanding the neural systems involved in the processing of social information and its disruption in ASD by reviewing the conceptual background and highlighting some recent advances. In addition, work investigating an alternative interpretation of autistic dysfunction, problems with interconnectivity, and consequent difficulties with complex information processing are addressed.