AUTISM AND ASPERGER SYNDROME--NEUROCOGNITIVE STUDIES OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

这个项目领域的重点是自闭症的发展心理病理学 和其他广泛性发育障碍与使命一致 该计划的项目，这项工作是强烈的跨学科， 自然提出了四项相关研究。前两项研究是 关注个体之间的疾病分化， 自闭症谱系的高功能端： 高功能自闭症（Higher-Functioning Autism，HFA） 将评估可能诊断为AS或HFA的个体 神经心理学和精神病学，将是一级 患者的亲属，以确定家庭的模式， AS和HFA症状和神经心理学特征的聚集。 还将评估家庭成员中综合征的表达。 初步研究表明， 与病情有关。现象学，遗传学， 和神经病理学检查。这项工作利用了一个大的， 合格受试者的唯一样本池。这项工作既涉及 的有效性和表征的Spurger综合征的概念，以及 正如神经心理学和其他因素的识别一样， 将其与自闭症区分开来;一个长期目标是将其扩展到 对自闭症的所有功能障碍都有帮助。 几行 有证据表明AS的潜在神经解剖学相关性， HFA。 作为本项目的一部分，将收集磁共振图像数据， 对（老年）受试者的子样本进行评估， 神经病理学相关。重点形态假设将是 测试的基础上观察到，个人与AS有高 表现出非语言学习障碍的可能性， 被假设为特别反映了白色物质的各个方面 功能障碍 本项目区的最后一项研究涉及评估 药物治疗AS和HFA。这项工作是基于试点 研究表明患有这些疾病的人 高水平的强迫性/仪式性行为可能会对 选择性血清素再摄取抑制剂40人将在 参加了一项双盲、安慰剂对照研究 （氟伏沙明）;药物反应将与诊断状态相关， 能活性的测量。

This Project Area focuses on the developmental psychopathology of Autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Consistent with the mission of the Program Project, this work is strongly interdisciplinary in nature. Four related studies are proposed. The first two studies are concerned with the differentiation of disorders among individuals at the higher functioning end of the spectrum of autism: the validity of Asperger syndrome (AS) relative to Higher-Functioning Autism (HFA). Individuals with a possible diagnosis of AS or HFA will be assessed neuropsychologically and psychiatrically, as will be the first-degree relatives of the patients in order to determine the pattern of familial aggregation of AS and HFA symptoms and neuropsychological profiles. Expression of the syndrome in family members will also be assessed. Preliminary work has suggested distinctive neuropsychological profiles associated with the condition. Other aspects of phenomenology, genetics, and neuropathology will be examined. This work makes use of a large and unique pool of eligible subjects. This work is concerned both with the validity and characterization of the Asperger syndrome concept as well as with the identification of neuropsychological and other factors that differentiate it from autism; a longer-term goal is the extension of this work to the entire range of dysfunction in autism. Several lines of evidence have suggested potential neuroanatomical correlates of AS and HFA. As part of this Project, Magnetic Resonance Image data will be collected on a subsample of (older) subjects to evaluate hypothesized neuropathological correlates. Focused morphological hypotheses will be tested based on the observation that individuals with AS have a high probability of exhibiting the nonverbal learning disability profile which has been hypothesized to particularly reflect aspects of white matter dysfunction. The final study within this Project Area is concerned with evaluating pharmacological treatments for AS and HFA. This work is based on pilot studies that suggest that individuals with these conditions who exhibit high levels of obsessive/ritualistic behavior may respond favorably to a selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Forty individuals will be enrolled in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of this agent (fluvoxamine); drug response will be related to diagnostic status and measures of serotonergic activity.