Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Autistic and Dyslexic Brains Exact Opposites?

Courier-Journal.com of Kentucky and Southern Indiana reports on research being conducted by University of Louisville neuroscientist Dr. Manuel Casanova which shows that the brains of autistic persons and dyslexic persons have many opposite traits particularly in respect of areas that process complex information:

The research identified differences in brain tissue known as cortical cell minicolumns, which connect brain signals to process information. In autistic people, there was an abundance of short connectors, but a deficiency of long ones which process complex information.

Casanova analyzed MRI brain scans of 15 dyslexic patients and discovered that many traits of dyslexic brains were exactly opposite those of autistic brains.The autistic brains were larger, while the dyslexic brains were smaller, with fewer wrinkles. And the dyslexic brains had an abundance of long connections between cortical cell minicolumns, at the expense of short ones.

Dr. Casanova's research is not just aimed at satisfying curiosity about the brains of persons with autism or dyslexia. Dr. Casanova is currently seeking funding for a clinical trial of high frequency magnetic wave therapy aimed at helping dyslexic persons make the short connections and read easier. He has already begun therapy trials with autistic persons using low frequency magnetic waves which the Courier-Journal reports are showing some success.





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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dyslexics and "aspies" both claim that Einstein was one of their own

Anonymous said...

Every "learning disabled" group claims that Einstein was one of their own.

Maybe he was bipolar, too? That's also a very popular "genius" disorder.

Stephanie said...

I wrote about "genius" and mental disorders today:

http://stephanielynnkeil.blogspot.com/2009/07/bipolar-disorder-and-genius.html