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SUMMARY:The Biology and Impact of Sensory Differences in Autism - Nick Put
 s\, King's College London
DTSTART:20251022T103000Z
DTEND:20251022T113000Z
UID:TALK239164@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Simon Braschi
DESCRIPTION:Sensory differences are common in autism\, yet have received s
 urprisingly little attention. We know little about the underlying neural m
 echanisms of these sensory differences\, in part due to the wide use of br
 oad\, scoping\, questionnaires\, or by isolated experimental studies. In t
 his talk I will present a series of studies examining sensory differences 
 in autism from brain\, to behaviour\, using multimodal approaches. First\,
  we developed a battery of psychophysical experiments to examine differenc
 es in perceptual sensitivity\, showing robust\, and reproducible differenc
 es in autism\, across developmental stages. Then\, I will show how these m
 easures associate with higher-order autistic traits including sensory reac
 tivity as well as mental health challenges. I will also show how perceptua
 l differences contribute to aversive sensory experiences. Delving more int
 o the biology\, we the used Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy to link these 
 sensory differences to differences in excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) neur
 otransmitter concentrations of glutamate and GABA in the autistic brain\, 
 which appears driven by genetic variability in these E/I systems. Finally\
 , using GABAergic pharmacological approaches we are able to causally "shif
 t" sensory markers\, which in turn\, are predictive of clinical improvemen
 ts. 
LOCATION:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81286610099?pwd=HsKTIo1MzZ7eEOJUaVYrEBb
 CvSSW1g.1
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