Neuropsychology of autism

Childhood autism is a syndrome characterized by a triad of abnormalities in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and imaginative activity. It is clinically heterogeneous, however, and probably represents a family of syndromes, each of which is the result of a different but related type of brain dysfunction. So far, there is no direct evidence for involvement of particular brain systems, although analogies to other disorders in humans and experimental animals do allow some plausible hypotheses.