Newsletter: Summer 2015
Welcome to the second edition of the autism@icn newsletter. We have just come to end of our annual set of research projects during which we had over 60 people come into our labs to help us find out more about autism. We would like thank everyone who took part in the studies this year. Without your participation our research would not be possible. Please read on if you would like to find out some of the results of the studies which took place this year (‘Latest Findings’). There is also an exciting opportunity to take part in a brain scanning experiment (‘Take part in research’).
Latest findings
Remembering to remember
How often do you forget to do things that you intended to do, like taking out the rubbish or meeting a friend for lunch? To make sure you remember, you might rely on your unaided memory, or you might use a reminder. For example, placing the rubbish at a noticeable place so you remember to take it out in the morning. We can use these kinds of strategies to "lighten the load" on our memory ability when we think that we will have trouble remembering. Mouslim Cherkaoui, an MSc student, and Dr Sam Gilbert were interested in seeing how people with and without an autism spectrum condition (ASC) diagnosis use these types of strategies in a reminder-setting task. They compared memory ability when reminders were allowed compared to when they were not allowed.
Latest findings
Remembering to remember
How often do you forget to do things that you intended to do, like taking out the rubbish or meeting a friend for lunch? To make sure you remember, you might rely on your unaided memory, or you might use a reminder. For example, placing the rubbish at a noticeable place so you remember to take it out in the morning. We can use these kinds of strategies to "lighten the load" on our memory ability when we think that we will have trouble remembering. Mouslim Cherkaoui, an MSc student, and Dr Sam Gilbert were interested in seeing how people with and without an autism spectrum condition (ASC) diagnosis use these types of strategies in a reminder-setting task. They compared memory ability when reminders were allowed compared to when they were not allowed.
They found that when reminders were not allowed, unaided memory ability in some people with an ASC diagnosis was not as strong when compared to some people without an ASC diagnosis. Therefore, perhaps some people with ASC should have used reminders more often to aid their memory when reminders were allowed. However, both groups used them just as often. These results suggest some people with ASC, who have trouble remembering to do things, may benefit from using reminders more often to help aid their memory.
Dark adaptation in ASC
Dark adaptation in ASC
Every day our eyes are exposed to a huge range of light levels; a piece of white paper looks 1,000 million times brighter in sunlight than it does on a dark night. Luckily our eyes have several methods which enable them to cope with these enormous changes: pupil size can vary to alter the amount of light entering the eye; and cells within the eye can adapt to the light and the dark. The process of dark adaptation is experienced by most people when they turn off their lights at night: at first our night vision is very poor, but over time it improves.
Dr Rebecca Lawson, and her MSc student Ainslie Johnstone (left), decided to investigate dark adaptation in people with and without a diagnosis of ASC. They found that there was no difference in the speed or amount of adaptation between these two groups. They did however find that people with a more severe symptoms of ASC showed slightly different patterns of dark adaptation compared to those with less severe symptoms. Those with more autistic symptoms, tended to show a faster initial improvement in night vision, but had poorer night vision after spending a long time in the dark. More research is needed to fully understand this difference, but it may help to explain why some people with ASC have a dislike of the dark, as they may find seeing in the dark particularly difficult.
How embarrassing!
Dr Rebecca Lawson, and her MSc student Ainslie Johnstone (left), decided to investigate dark adaptation in people with and without a diagnosis of ASC. They found that there was no difference in the speed or amount of adaptation between these two groups. They did however find that people with a more severe symptoms of ASC showed slightly different patterns of dark adaptation compared to those with less severe symptoms. Those with more autistic symptoms, tended to show a faster initial improvement in night vision, but had poorer night vision after spending a long time in the dark. More research is needed to fully understand this difference, but it may help to explain why some people with ASC have a dislike of the dark, as they may find seeing in the dark particularly difficult.
How embarrassing!
Have you ever criticised someone, only to find out they are standing behind you? Have you ever called your host by the wrong name at a party? If so, you have committed a social faux pas – an embarrassing or tactless act or remark in a social situation. When given comic strips depicting social situations and asked whether they are embarrassing, some people with ASC tend to detect too many social faux pas. That is, they say the situation is embarrassing, when most people would interpret it as not being embarrassing.
MSc student David Berry (left), under the supervision of Professor Paul Burgess, wanted to test two theories as to why some people with ASC detect too many social faux pas. The first theory was that some people with ASC have difficulties thinking about social situations and this is why they over-detect social faux-pas. The second theory stated that the reason some people with ASC detect too many social faux pas is because detecting a social faux-pas is an open-ended task. Open-ended tasks are tasks where there is more than one possible answer, compared to closed tasks where there is just one answer.
MSc student David Berry (left), under the supervision of Professor Paul Burgess, wanted to test two theories as to why some people with ASC detect too many social faux pas. The first theory was that some people with ASC have difficulties thinking about social situations and this is why they over-detect social faux-pas. The second theory stated that the reason some people with ASC detect too many social faux pas is because detecting a social faux-pas is an open-ended task. Open-ended tasks are tasks where there is more than one possible answer, compared to closed tasks where there is just one answer.
David gave participants a range of tasks to complete, some open-ended (e.g. drawing a pleasant picture) and some closed (e.g. finding Wally in a picture). The main finding was that on the vast majority of the tasks people with and without a diagnosis of ASC performed just as well as each other. However, some people with ASC showed differences on some of the open-ended tasks. The results suggest the differences in detecting social faux pas in some people with ASC may be more due to difficulties with open-ended tasks, rather than difficulties in thinking about social situations. But more research will be needed to confirm this.
Spotlight on...
The autism@icn team is a diverse group of researchers interested in understanding autism. In each newsletter we highlight the role of one of our team members. In this issue, it’s Rebecca Lawson.
Spotlight on...
The autism@icn team is a diverse group of researchers interested in understanding autism. In each newsletter we highlight the role of one of our team members. In this issue, it’s Rebecca Lawson.
Dr Rebecca Lawson is a post-doctoral scientist at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging. Everyone calls her Becky. She researches perception and tries to understand individual differences in how we see and hear the world around us. She is interested in better understanding the sensory symptoms of ASC, such as sensitivity to bright lights and loud noises. Becky uses behavioural tests and brain scans in her research.
Fun fact: Becky is a drummer in a band called The Puncture Repair Kit.
For more information about the autism@icn team, please click here.
Events
Ladbroke Grove Science Bonanza
Fun fact: Becky is a drummer in a band called The Puncture Repair Kit.
For more information about the autism@icn team, please click here.
Events
Ladbroke Grove Science Bonanza
As part of Science Week, Paul Forbes, the ICN’s autism research coordinator, and MSc student Mouslim Cherkaoui went to Ladbroke Grove Autism Centre to take part in their Science Bonanza. The event was extremely interesting and varied. A team of speech and language therapists had created a giant model of the brain. They spoke about how different areas of the brain are responsible for the production and comprehension of language. Paul and Mouslim then showed how our sense of body ownership (knowing that our own bodies belong to us) can be easily manipulated through the rubber hand illusion. Those who experience the illusion feel that a rubber hand becomes their own hand. You can watch a demonstration of the illusion here.
Uta Frith on BBC2
Uta Frith recently presented a documentary on BBC 2 called, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Monster in my Mind, which set out to dispel misconceptions about the disorder.
The documentary is available to view on the BBC iplayer until 26th September.
Raising the Bar with Antonia Hamilton
Uta Frith on BBC2
Uta Frith recently presented a documentary on BBC 2 called, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Monster in my Mind, which set out to dispel misconceptions about the disorder.
The documentary is available to view on the BBC iplayer until 26th September.
Raising the Bar with Antonia Hamilton
Antonia Hamilton is taking part in the worldwide initiative called Raising the Bar, which aims to make education part of a city’s popular culture. Antonia will be speaking on Wednesday 16th September at 7 pm at Balls Brothers Bury Court, a wine bar next to the Gherkin in the City of London, EC3A 8EX.
For more information about Antonia’s talk, please click here.
For more information about Raising the Bar, please click here.
Do Lemons have Feathers?
For more information about Antonia’s talk, please click here.
For more information about Raising the Bar, please click here.
Do Lemons have Feathers?
David Burns has recently published a book called, Do Lemons have Feathers? (One Man’s Approach to His Gift of Autism):
"Have you ever wondered if autism is a gift? Do Lemons Have Feathers is written for parents, teachers and people with high functioning autism, such as Asperger's syndrome, who want to understand how to take advantage of the disadvantage. Written by a parent on the spectrum, it's both practical and insightful and contains strategies that actually work. Although autism may be a serious subject, that hasn't deterred the author from applying his very funny outlook and humour to produce a book that's refreshing, up to date and easy to read. Full of comedic situations and anecdotes, the book is designed to be picked up and dipped into when a bit of encouragement is needed through those tough days when no one else is around to lift the spirit."
The book is available here.
Publication highlight
Many of the research projects conducted within the autism@icn team are published in scientific journals. In each issue we will highlight a publication of particular interest.
Which movies do you like best?
People make choices everyday about what activities to engage in – to play a computer game or to meet friends, to watch a documentary or a comedy. Indu Dubey has been working to develop a simple way to measure what choices people make about watching movies. Participants in the study had the chance to watch short movies of objects or movies of people, but some movies were easier to see than others. We found that adults without ASC made more effort to look at movies of people, adults with ASC made more effort to look at movies of objects. Nevertheless both the groups were careful about how much effort they would make to look at their favoured movies. These results give us a new way to measure what different people like, and to understand how different preferences may affect every day behaviour.
The paper is:
Dubey, I., Ropar, D., & de C Hamilton, A. F. (2015). Measuring the value of social engagement in adults with and without autism. Molecular autism, 6(1), 35.
For a complete list of publications from the autism@icn group, click here
If you would like a copy of any of these publications please email [email protected]
Take part in research
Would you like a picture of your brain?
"Have you ever wondered if autism is a gift? Do Lemons Have Feathers is written for parents, teachers and people with high functioning autism, such as Asperger's syndrome, who want to understand how to take advantage of the disadvantage. Written by a parent on the spectrum, it's both practical and insightful and contains strategies that actually work. Although autism may be a serious subject, that hasn't deterred the author from applying his very funny outlook and humour to produce a book that's refreshing, up to date and easy to read. Full of comedic situations and anecdotes, the book is designed to be picked up and dipped into when a bit of encouragement is needed through those tough days when no one else is around to lift the spirit."
The book is available here.
Publication highlight
Many of the research projects conducted within the autism@icn team are published in scientific journals. In each issue we will highlight a publication of particular interest.
Which movies do you like best?
People make choices everyday about what activities to engage in – to play a computer game or to meet friends, to watch a documentary or a comedy. Indu Dubey has been working to develop a simple way to measure what choices people make about watching movies. Participants in the study had the chance to watch short movies of objects or movies of people, but some movies were easier to see than others. We found that adults without ASC made more effort to look at movies of people, adults with ASC made more effort to look at movies of objects. Nevertheless both the groups were careful about how much effort they would make to look at their favoured movies. These results give us a new way to measure what different people like, and to understand how different preferences may affect every day behaviour.
The paper is:
Dubey, I., Ropar, D., & de C Hamilton, A. F. (2015). Measuring the value of social engagement in adults with and without autism. Molecular autism, 6(1), 35.
For a complete list of publications from the autism@icn group, click here
If you would like a copy of any of these publications please email [email protected]
Take part in research
Would you like a picture of your brain?
Dr Becky Lawson will be running a new brain scanning study from the end of September until December 2015. This will involve doing some tasks in the MRI scanner and participants will have the chance to get a picture of their brain. If you would like to be considered to take part, please contact Paul, the autism research coordinator, via email on [email protected]