PSYC 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Frontal Lobe, Brain Size, Cerebellum

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 330
• Professor: Andrea Chronis- Tuscano

Document Summary

Atypical early brain growth: autism emerges early with atypical patterns of brain development, warning signs: Changes in head size in first year of life. Brain size differences largest in first few years. Frontal cortex social and executive functioning, language skills. Temporal cortex social and language skills. Period of refining connections based on experience is squished into small window of time, altering synaptic function. Functions that require integration among multiple brain systems suffer most. Extended period of brain growth is shortened. Evidence of increased neuron numbers and size in prefrontal cortex. Atypical connections in brain: functional vs. structural connections in early altered organization of brain connections in infancy of asd, hyper-connectivity in asd more connections but not necessarily optimal quality, hypo-connectivity in teens and adults later on. Reduced connection in areas of social brain. Reduced spontaneous social processing: can vs. do pragmatics.