1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,280 Welcome to From the Spectrum Podcast. This is a podcast about autism. It is my goal to 2 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:23,120 explain what is autism. I plan to use a mixture of scientific literature, personal experience, 3 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:31,680 and opinion. With opinion, I will explain why, I will show the way I do and give examples. 4 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:39,040 I will provide links to various references for each episode. For each episode, we will 5 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:48,320 discuss various aspects of autism. The From the Spectrum Podcast will mostly avoid causes 6 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:57,360 of autism and I will try to avoid the increase of diagnoses of late. This is like playing tug-of-war 7 00:00:57,360 --> 00:01:04,560 with barbed wire and I don't think I want to travel down that path. For today's episode, 8 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:14,000 we will parse out the medial, prefrontal cortex and common connections and the roles in autism. 9 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:25,040 The medial part of the prefrontal cortex is just a subdivision. The prefrontal is just behind the 10 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:35,600 forehead extending up and back to about the top of the head. We have discussed the medial prefrontal 11 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:44,720 and today we will expand on those discussions, expand on the functions, the implications, 12 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:54,800 the metabolic demands, and talk more about some excitation and inhibition imbalance. 13 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:04,080 And mention some familiar genes and proteins and other so-called disorders that share these 14 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:13,520 biological implications. Remember, problems upstream in our biology can have different 15 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:23,600 presentations downstream. For example, problems in the medial prefrontal could cause autism, 16 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:36,800 schizophrenia, OCD, epilepsy, ADHD, etc. There are many variables and variations. 17 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:46,080 We will explore more of these later. For today's episode, we will primarily discuss 18 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:58,800 three areas. The medial prefrontal cortex, the interior cingulate cortex, or ACC, and the insula. 19 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:08,640 Just a heads up, we will discuss other regions. This will be a deep discussion into our biology. 20 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:18,480 The goal is seeing how this is entangled with autism. Also, we will cover a couple of scientific 21 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:29,280 papers related to these regions and functions of autism. First, the medial prefrontal cortex. 22 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:39,760 Prefrontal cortex. Some basics. The medial prefrontal cortex is 80 to 90% excitatory, 23 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:50,960 and 10 to 20% inhibitory. Already, you should see with the excitation and inhibition phenomenon 24 00:03:50,960 --> 00:04:00,800 of autism how this is a region of interest. The medial prefrontal cortex has the highest 25 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:11,600 resting metabolic rate. Remember the bank account episode. Some genes or proteins involved include 26 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:27,120 the CNT, NAP2, shank 3, and neuro ligand. Remember which is post-synaptic. Neurorexin is pre-synaptic. 27 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:38,960 Neuro ligand is post-synaptic. And P10, phosphorus and tinsin. The first component covered in episode 28 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:50,960 3. Common genetic and proteins associated with autism. A brief recap. And sidebar. We have covered 29 00:04:50,960 --> 00:05:02,400 all of those areas previously. But to expand on P10, P10's overall goal is regulating cell division. 30 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:13,680 No. Cells divide. Remember the discussion on rapamycin or mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin. 31 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:23,840 P10 regulates cells from growing and dividing too quickly or in an uncontrollable rate. 32 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:32,880 So cell growth. If you thought about tumors or cancer, that was a correct association. 33 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:45,040 P10 regulates that. How this is related to autism. That role with tumors or cancer is unclear to me. 34 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:54,320 I have not pursued that data. Only P10's role of cells related to development, migration, and so 35 00:05:54,320 --> 00:06:05,360 forth. A key function of P10. The increased and strengthening of a connection. The medial prefrontal 36 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:16,320 cortex to the basal lateral amygdala. Remember the amygdala from autism and anxiety. The basal 37 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:27,120 lateral is a hotspot for learned anxiety. Or fear. It is a subdivision of the amygdala. 38 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:37,440 Which, remember, is well known for anxiety, fear, some forms of motivation, and social cognition. 39 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:50,960 A side note. Oxytocin. We still plan on having an episode on oxytocin and vasopressin. Because of the roles in social inputs. 40 00:06:50,960 --> 00:07:00,720 Oxytocin has long range projections to the amygdala. The medial prefrontal cortex. 41 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:10,560 And to the basal ganglia. Discussed in the first episode. Our go-no-go area is the basal ganglia. 42 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:17,600 Which involves the striatum. Where motivation and motor movements converge. 43 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:24,800 These long range projections were just published by Levery et al. in 2024. 44 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:35,040 Also remember the cortico striatal thalamic loop. Mentioned in episode 1. This is OCD. 45 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:41,280 And these subdivisions discussed today are deep dives into that loop. 46 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:57,680 Okay, some functions of the medial prefrontal cortex. Cells in the medial have robust responses to motor and sensory cues. 47 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:07,200 We have three basic types of cells. Trillions of cells. But, essentially, there are three types. 48 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:15,680 It's amazing. The three types are motor, sensory, and interneurons. 49 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:24,480 The medial prefrontal cortex has a role with mentalizing and processing social information. 50 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:30,160 About the self. And about others in the environment. 51 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:32,560 Briefly. 52 00:08:32,560 --> 00:08:45,360 Conflict monitoring. Air detection. Executive control. Reward guided learning. 53 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:54,320 Decision making about risk and reward. Adaptive responses. So this is a good item to dissect. 54 00:08:54,320 --> 00:09:03,840 Warned a connection from a midline thalamus. Remember the thalamus is a central area for sensory processing. 55 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:15,280 This connection to the medial prefrontal creates silency enhancing. Or stress is enhancing. 56 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:24,800 Whereby, when we face fears, when we face threats, face those unwanted or challenging stimuli. 57 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:32,720 This connection equals rewarding arousal. Rewarding stress. 58 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:42,960 You have probably heard of fight, flight, or freeze. Which describes the sympathetic side 59 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:50,320 of the central nervous system. This side with stress. This connection promotes more. Fight. 60 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:58,320 And not limited to physical fight is my interpretation. But more of a tenacity. 61 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:11,360 Grit. Determination role. The Navy seal attitude. Normal or adaptive responses. The pathway is 62 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:23,440 the medial prefrontal cortex to the ACC and insula. Discussed later. When we have fear, anxiety, panic, 63 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:30,880 and so forth. The medial prefrontal cortex is controlled by the ACC and insula. 64 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:39,040 Remember the need to lead with the prefrontal. It allows us to understand things. 65 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:48,560 So we can properly evaluate things. One of those overall higher order roles. 66 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:56,240 Of the prefrontal. And what makes humans the dominant species on earth. 67 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:05,040 Adaptive responses also include specialized autonomic or emotional control. 68 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:12,880 As we just discussed. Controlling actions. And includes pain perception. 69 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:21,440 And it works downstream with the lateral habinula. Remember that serotonergic area. 70 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:30,720 Involved in passive versus active coping. That's a few ways of basically explaining 71 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:38,800 the same thing. Adaptive responses. Now if you are listening to those functions. 72 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:48,480 You can connect autistic phenotypes to all of them. Also the medial prefrontal cortex works 73 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:59,920 alongside the hypothalamus to mediate homeostatic roles such as hunger, thirst, an autonomic and 74 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:09,520 endocrine functions. Finally the medial prefrontal cortex is involved in recent memory. 75 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:19,680 Disrupting the medial prefrontal cortex. Just after a learning bout. Implicates memory consolidation. 76 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:25,360 Or said differently. How or if you remember something. 77 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:36,960 A sub area of the medial. The ventral medial. This is important. Remember the excitation 78 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:46,880 and inhibition balance. And the metabolic demands. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex connects to 79 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:58,480 neuromodulatory systems. All of them. Remember episode 5. Part 2 of the excitation inhibition 80 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:09,520 balance. And the raffae for serotonin. The ventral tegmental area for dopamine. And remember valence 81 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:18,800 2. From the VTA. From autism and anxiety episode. The locus serilius for brain adrenaline. 82 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:29,120 Epinephrine and or nor epinephrine. And the medial or the ventral medial prefrontal cortex 83 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:42,560 connects to acetylcholine. Which modulates our focus. In 2022, Hugh and Bayer show the 84 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:51,360 medial prefrontal cortex relies on a delicate balance of those neuromodulatory inputs. 85 00:13:51,360 --> 00:14:06,960 Okay. The anterior cingulate cortex. Or ACC. The cingulate wraps around. It is entangled 86 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:16,080 around white matter. It's very unique. When blocked or interfered with. Or shut off. 87 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:29,120 Catatonic behaviors follow. And the ACC is involved in dissociative data. Dissociation 88 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:40,880 is when one is completely separate from reality. Catatonic and dissociation are not included 89 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:48,400 in our autism discussion. But worthy of mentioning how powerful the cingulate is. 90 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:59,360 To some of these more severe potential behaviors. Some functions of the ACC. Motivation. 91 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:08,000 Decision making. Conflict and air calculating. Emotion regulation. 92 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:17,760 Pain perception. Cognitive control. You can see. It helps modulate or help. 93 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:27,200 How and where we send our attention. The medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC 94 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:37,920 receives direct inputs from those lower level sensory regions. Essentially those lower level 95 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:49,520 sensory regions ask the medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC. What should we do? And what do we need? 96 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:58,640 This is what's going on in the outside world. What and how should we handle it? The medial 97 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:07,360 prefrontal cortex and the ACC recruits different brain regions based on that information. This 98 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:18,000 is what we're going to do. The medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC lead the way. In addition, 99 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:26,320 the medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC have massive bi-directional connections to those 100 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:34,160 neuromodulator systems and all the the sensory processing systems so they can be updated and 101 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:44,000 understand what is working, what is not working and of course how to adapt. An interesting and 102 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:52,960 related study shows during passive listening during dissonance listening when we are passively 103 00:16:52,960 --> 00:17:00,640 dislistening to things in the background. The medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC are lit up. 104 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:08,400 They are active during passive listening. In other words, when there's noise going on in the 105 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:17,840 background, the medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC are active and listening. These two regions 106 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:29,120 are always on call, always ready. And now you can see that metabolic demand here as well. 107 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:41,600 And you can see autistics typically prefer being within ourselves. And you can remember me saying, 108 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:56,800 the outside world is chaotic. The ACC is hyperactive and hyperconnected with other brain areas under 109 00:17:56,800 --> 00:18:11,680 baseline or said differently under resting state. And when stimulated, two different scenarios, 110 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:23,920 resting and stimulated. NMDA are involved here. Remember the glutamate receptor. 111 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:36,880 Remember glutamate is excitation. This area, data show involvement in autism, developmental delay, 112 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:50,560 intellectual disability, epileptic encephalopathy, cephala, our brains are like an extended versions. 113 00:18:50,560 --> 00:19:01,120 Several thousand modifications of cephalopods. Those less complex creatures living underwater. 114 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:12,080 Also involvement in ADHD, schizophrenia and OCD. All things we've discussed. 115 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:22,000 This biology assist with synaptic development and plasticity. So more neuro plasticity, 116 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:34,480 learning and shaping who we are. A study on theory of mind, which is understanding others, 117 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:46,480 based on looking at them created by Sir Simon Baron Cohen in 1985. It's also called mentalizing or 118 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:59,760 cognitive empathy. These are super deficits in autism. Duval et al. in 2023 show during a theory of 119 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:10,160 mind task while using neuro imaging, autistic subjects had reduced activity in the ACC, 120 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:20,720 the medial prefrontal cortex and another area temporal parietal junction. We won't dissect 121 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:32,160 that area. In a second study, we'll discuss from Lee et al. in molecular psychiatry from 2024. 122 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:45,040 The ACC show stronger responses to sensory stimuli and they can do this on mice. Remember mice are 123 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:55,040 modeled organisms. They can use foot shocks and whisker stimulation for example. Two good 124 00:20:55,040 --> 00:21:06,480 sensory processing tools. The ACC and thalamus and the BNST, the bad neculus of the striaterminalis. 125 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:15,440 Remember from the autism and anxiety episode. And some areas responsible for memory, the hippocampus 126 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:27,200 and the interior rhino cortex. These areas were hyper activated. In addition, the study normalized 127 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:39,040 the ACC with chemogenetic creating a normalized sensory processing sensitivity and normal connection 128 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:48,080 of those areas. In other words, they helped the connection to and from these areas that helped 129 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:59,120 with sensory processing. Okay, we'll discuss the insula and then review a few more studies. 130 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:11,520 The insula was a buzzword in neuroscience since about 12 years ago or so. And later, we'll review 131 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:21,760 a paper by maybe the top scientist on the insula. The insula is a hub, a meeting spot for interpreting 132 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:30,720 bodily responses or bodily states and brain. So things like cognition, thoughts and feelings 133 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:39,280 and how those are entangled with the current environmental situation. It has three large 134 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:52,080 sources of data, the brain, body and environment. It receives and processes this data and helps recruit 135 00:22:52,080 --> 00:23:01,680 proper responses. Proper responses or normal responses is extremely subjective to that person. 136 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:12,880 Defining the insula officially. The insula is central for applying defensive and behavioral 137 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:23,440 strategies, processing bodily states involved in interoception, self awareness, emotional 138 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:34,000 regulation, consciousness, social anxiety. It connects with cortical and sub cortical areas, 139 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:44,480 including being co-activated with the amygdala during fear and anxiety. Now let's break it down. 140 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:55,200 The interior insula, discussed more in detail shortly, contains spindle neurons. Spindle 141 00:23:55,200 --> 00:24:06,720 neurons are new in mammalian history and they are only found in humans, bonobos, chimps, 142 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:18,720 gorillas and orangutans. This was discovered about 25 years ago. Interesting and a side note 143 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:26,960 with frontal temporal dementia. These areas that we're discussing today and these spindle neurons 144 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:37,040 or a hot topic, they are a region of interest with this type of dementia. The right interior insula, 145 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:47,440 a subdivision, coordinates the executive network and the default mode network. These are opposite 146 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:58,640 networks or functioning depending on if you have a task or if you have no task. Having a task, 147 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:08,080 you recruit the executive functioning, skills led by the prefrontal. Remember the rule sets 148 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:18,000 and the prefrontal being a flexible rule setting and execution machine. Turning areas and systems on 149 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:29,280 and off, activating and inactivating areas and systems across the entire body. What is needed 150 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:40,400 for that task demand? It's a conductor or orchestrator or director, whatever you want to call it. 151 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:50,560 Typically, when nothing is abnormal, typically the executive network and the default mode network 152 00:25:50,560 --> 00:26:03,440 do not operate simultaneously. They are anti-correlated. During anxiety or fear, the circuitry can 153 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:15,280 reverse. If someone has maladaptive responses or that passive coping or they stay afraid, panicked, 154 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:27,280 so on. The insula alongside with the ACC leads the prefrontal, leads the entire prefrontal cortex, 155 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:39,120 including the medial. Then we lose that so-called executive functioning. Remember, this is crucial 156 00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:48,160 reason why humans are the dominant species when we lead with the prefrontal cortex. 157 00:26:50,080 --> 00:27:00,240 Okay, let's review some data. Let's go in with a recent one from Neuron published in 158 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:14,960 2024 by Fan et al. To start, the dorsal medial area of the prefrontal has a role with mentalizing 159 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:27,840 and representing social information about the self and about others. Fan et al found the dorsal 160 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:38,480 medial prefrontal cortex and the ACC gyrus show neural representations for gaze fixations 161 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:49,360 directed toward the eyes and face of con-specific partner during contact-specific neutral eye 162 00:27:49,360 --> 00:28:00,960 contact. Okay, so that was a lot, but this has some obvious interest with autism and the eye gaze 163 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:07,840 and the eye contact. The study shows that these areas are involved here. 164 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:19,760 And last week, a cool paper came out about eye gaze as an infant improving specificity and 165 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:29,760 sensitivity on later autism assessments. We plan to discuss eye gaze in a future episode. 166 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:40,880 In Fan et al, the question asked is, do these areas contribute to our social attention? 167 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:50,000 Combined with the orbital frontal cortex, remember, nothing singular is the cause 168 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:58,160 or responsible for any one thing. These areas, the orbital frontal cortex, the medial 169 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:07,120 prefrontal cortex and the ACC have bidirectional connections to the amygdala, a region sharing 170 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:13,840 interest with social cognition. Remember the autism and anxiety episode. 171 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:26,240 Social gaze might be or could be critical for observational learning and social decision-making. 172 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:41,680 Two huge components with autism. In socialness, gaze timing, adapting with increases or decreases 173 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:52,160 of eye gaze depending on the social context are important. Remember, because social norms 174 00:29:52,160 --> 00:30:02,560 and humans say so. This guides social interaction and social learning. And we can think about this 175 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:09,840 as a young child all the way through adulthood and the implications with autism. 176 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:20,480 Okay, the next two studies come from 2009. Interestingly, these are old relative to autism 177 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:31,840 research, but both feature Lucena Euden, one of the foremost researchers and neuroscientist on the 178 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:44,640 Insula. One is a review and one is a meta-analysis. The meta-analysis show hyperactivation in the ACC 179 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:58,400 in social task and non-social task. Important with autism research and important for exploring 180 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:09,520 specific regions of the brain. The social task show a hypoactivation in the peridinual ACC. 181 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:23,040 Whereas non-social task is highlighted in the dorsal ACC. Confirming the roles the ACC have 182 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:33,840 in both social task and non-social task. Additionally, the right anterior insula 183 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:43,440 hypoactive during social task. In the autistic group during non-social task, 184 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:52,640 autistics have greater activation in a completely different area, the rostral ACC, 185 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,240 an area typically suppressed in the comparison group. 186 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:08,880 In the review study, there is a suspicion that hypoactive or a disconnected region 187 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:18,960 of the insula is a result of projections to and from sensory and limbic areas. 188 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:29,360 Thus, causing errors in attentional resources and subsequent guiding of adaptive responses 189 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:36,320 in socialness. Sounds familiar. Sounds like autism. 190 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:47,920 Okay, last one. Published in Communications Biology in April of 2024. 191 00:32:47,920 --> 00:33:05,680 Sang et al. Studying six-week-old infants with a high risk of autism, a family history of autism. 192 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:15,440 If we step back for a moment, infants, a primary visual input for them are faces 193 00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:25,600 and specifically smiling and happy faces. Everyone wants to see the baby smile and or laugh. 194 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:35,360 This study is brilliant whereby they used six-week-old infants and studied 195 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:45,920 attentional biases and sensory motor processing. The high likelihood group as the study defined 196 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:54,400 have higher connectivity with sensory motor regions whereas typical likelihood 197 00:33:55,040 --> 00:34:03,120 have a stronger connectivity to prefrontal regions. And if you think about that critical age 198 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:13,440 that we've discussed, if autism manifest in this critical age where we learn the outside world is 199 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:21,840 chaotic from all that sensory overload, that age where there is a lot of sensory going on and 200 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:30,640 neuroplasticity going on, is it learned that the outside world is chaotic and then we learn to 201 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:42,160 withdraw, we learn to avoid. In addition, the higher connected sensory motor group, 202 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:52,400 the high likelihood group had lower connections to the prefrontal areas. And this ought to suggest 203 00:34:52,400 --> 00:35:03,280 that the prefrontal cortex is not recruited as much or as needed compared to the typicals. 204 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:14,800 As we wrap up today, we covered a lot of biology and a lot of different studies. However, 205 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:24,160 mostly they are all directed towards certain areas of the body or the brain and certain behaviors. 206 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:33,760 I think we funneled this down into a few certain behaviors and causes of autism. I hope you can 207 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:43,280 see that people with autism have these biological implications and this can help explain our why 208 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:56,800 this can help you understand autism. If you are listening and enjoy the episode and enjoy the podcast, 209 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:06,160 please feel free to leave a review or rating. In podcasting, reviews, ratings and downloads are 210 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:23,760 huge and I very much appreciate your feedback. You can contact me if you wish at info.fromthespectrum.com 211 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:35,360 and thank you for listening to From the Spectrum podcast.