14 DAY TRIAL // A new link between genetics and autism was established in the outcome of a study showing that the parents of autistic children are likely to behave similarly to their young ones when it comes to evaluating people's facial expressions, although they do not have the disorder themselves.
By conducting psychological tests on 42 parents with autistic children, Ralph Adolphs of the California Institute of Technology evaluated 15 of them as being socially aloof while the rest appeared to be neurotypical. The two groups were then evaluated in comparison with people having neurotypical children during a test that involved recognizing the expression of a series of faces.
People suffering from autism are most likely to have problems recognizing the emotions of others through their facial expression. Nonetheless, all the parents participating in the test had an 83 percent probability of evaluating the situation correctly. But, when Adolphs looked at how socially aloof parents judged the face expressions, he noticed that they mostly relied on observing the mouth, as opposed to the reaction of neurotypical people who tend to look into the person's eyes when trying to read their feelings.
"This bears a striking resemblance to what we have reported previously in individuals with autism," says Adolphs. Previous studies found that when interacting with people, children with autism spend a disproportionate amount of time looking at the mouth, but this is the first time when similar behavior is observed in some of the parents of these children.
"Some parents who have a child with autism process face information in a subtly, but clearly different way from other parents," says Adolphs while revealing that he is currently investigating whether or not the processes in the brain of aloof parents are different in comparison to those of neurotypical parents. "It definitely supports the idea that there is a genetic basis to autism," says Angelica Ronald of the Kings College London.
If indeed the behavioral traits are genetically inherited, then a child having one introverted parent and the other mildly obsessive is most likely to develop autism, albeit this is only a theory since several environmental factors may also be responsible. "Autism is made up of social difficulties, communication problems and repetitive behaviors. It would be interesting to see if the parents have any of these other traits," Ronald says.