“UW researchers have discovered that people with autism have a more intense response to looking at faces (http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=48118) than the average Joe. The more social impairment, in fact, the more intense the response to someone’s face. The UW Autism Center’s Natalia Kleinhans says, ‘What we are seeing is hyper-excitability or over-arousal of the amygdala, which suggests that neurons in the amygdala are firing more than expected.’ The amygdala’s emotional tagging helps you make decisions, remember things, and identify faces. Without the right emotional response, face-recognition gets a little squirrely…”
There’s more. Kleinhans’ research abstract is at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/appi.ajp.2008.07101681v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Kleinhans&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT.
A few years back I …read more