Neural Correlates of Autistic Traits in the General Population: Insights Into Autism

Abstract

The traditional approach to studying autism has been to compare a group of affected individuals with a group of nonautistic individuals on a particular measure of interest (e.g., genes, brain, behavior) in order to determine how the groups differ. While this methodological approach is of obvious importance and has revealed almost all of what we know about autism, recent developments in the quantification of autistic traits in the general population are providing novel inroads to studying and understanding autism. One example of such an approach appears in an article by Di Martino and colleagues (1) in this issue of the Journal. In a nonautistic sample from the general population (for which the term "neurotypical" is preferred by autism researchers and advocates), the authors find that the degree of autistic traits in an individual is related to a functional relationship between two particular regions of the brain (i.e., the pregenual anterior cingulate and the anterior mid-insula). Before describing these findings in greater detail and their implications for understanding autism, some background on two key aspects of the study should be given.