The Japanese journal of neuropsychology

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ArticleTitle	A developmental framework for the cognitive neuroscience of autism spectrum disorder
Language	J
AuthorList	Yoko Kamio
Affiliation	National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry
Publication	Japanese Journal of Neuropsychology: 24 (1), 32-39, 2008
Received
Accepted
Abstract	Dawson et al. (2002) proposed that defining broader autism phenotype based on knowledge of cognitive neuroscience is expected to guide to its corresponding neural substrate and genes. In this paper, we discussed Dawson's six candidate broader autism phenotypes, such as affiliative behavior, motor imitation, memory, language processing, face processing and executive function based on new research findings. Although these broader autism phenotypes differ in domain, subsequently in neural substrate, the way that each phenotype develops seems similar. That is, even within each cognitive phenotype, cognitive subcomponents fail to develop harmoniously but they seemingly show functional dissociation cross-sectionally. In other words, we can see a lack of developmental synchrony among multiple domains, which may fit with a developmental hypothesis concerned with a failure of modularization rather than a module deficit account of explaining ASD. The cognitive phenotype of ASD remains to be clarified both more precisely and in detail in order to explain the underlying neural substrates and genes. Furthermore, how neural abnormalities are compensated functionally under the gene-environmental interaction should be explored.
Keywords	autism, spectrum, cognitive phenotype, development, modularization