IMFAR 2016

Recent articles

Delayed pupil response to light may be early sign of autism

The pupils of preschoolers with autism are slow to constrict in response to light, a phenomenon that may serve as an early marker of autism risk.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
24 February 2017 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Takeaways from IMFAR 2016

Researchers, advocates and others from the autism community came together for the 2016 International Meeting for Autism Research in Baltimore.

By Claire Cameron
16 May 2016 | 2 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

New tool lets cognitive skills guide autism treatment

A new algorithm relies on abilities rather than diagnoses to steer clinicians toward personalized treatments for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

By Ann Griswold
14 May 2016 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Disparities in autism diagnosis may harm minority groups

Clinicians are underdiagnosing autism in children from low-income families and minority groups — setting back their potential to benefit from therapy.

By Jessica Wright
14 May 2016 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Mouse with key autism mutation defies expectations

Mice with a mutation in CHD8, the top autism gene, show no signs of any of the condition's core features.

By Jessica Wright
14 May 2016 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Distinct folding in autism brain hints at condition’s origins

A brain region involved in reading faces has fewer folds in toddler boys with autism than it does in controls, a structural difference that could be related to social difficulties.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
14 May 2016 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

New video tool talks parents through autism screening

A video-guided screening tool may boost the reliability of parent reports about autism-like behaviors.

By Ann Griswold
14 May 2016 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Diagnostic manual may need to separate repetitive behaviors

A detailed analysis of the behavior of 6,500 children suggests that five types of behaviors lumped together in current diagnostic guidelines should each be considered separately.

By Ann Griswold
14 May 2016 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

In Gaza Strip, autism researchers battle dearth of resources

Researchers are trying to study autism in one of the most politically and economically unstable regions in the world.

By Claire Cameron
14 May 2016 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Social gaze patterns strikingly consistent between identical twins

Identical twins, who have virtually the same genetic material, show highly similar patterns of eye movements when looking at faces, suggesting that social gaze is hardwired.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
14 May 2016 | 3 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Photograph of the BRIDGE team and students visiting a laboratory.

Sharing Africa’s brain data: Q&A with Amadi Ihunwo

These data are “virtually mandatory” to advance neuroscience, says Ihunwo, a co-investigator of the Brain Research International Data Governance & Exchange (BRIDGE) initiative, which seeks to develop a global framework for sharing, using and protecting neuroscience data.

By Lauren Schenkman
20 May 2025 | 6 min read
Research image of neurite overgrowth in cells grown from people with autism-linked PPP2R5D variants.

Cortical structures in infants linked to future language skills; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 19 May.

By Jill Adams
20 May 2025 | 2 min read
Digitally distorted building blocks.

The BabyLM Challenge: In search of more efficient learning algorithms, researchers look to infants

A competition that trains language models on relatively small datasets of words, closer in size to what a child hears up to age 13, seeks solutions to some of the major challenges of today’s large language models.

By Alona Fyshe
19 May 2025 | 7 min read