Glossary of Terms

A  
ADI-R The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a clinical diagnostic instrument for assessing autism in children and adults.
Antipsychotic drugs Drugs which help counteract or reverse psychosis, a disturbance in thought processing and behavior leading to a loss of contact with reality.
Amygdala An almond-shaped part the brain structure involved in regulating emotion, and it may also play a role in the association of memories.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Autism is often referred to as a "spectrum disorder," meaning that the symptoms and characteristics of autism can present themselves in a variety of combinations, ranging from extremely mild to quite severe.
B  
C  
Cerebellum The lower back part of the brain responsible for functions such as maintaining balance, and coordinating and controlling voluntary muscle movement.
Cerebral Cortex The outer portion of the brain where thought processes take place.
Compulsive behavior Behaviors that are usually uncontrollable and often repetitive or obsessive.
Concordance Agreement in types of data that occur in natural pairs—in autism a pair of identical twins is "concordant" if BOTH are affected or unaffected. It is "discordant" if one of them only is affected.
D  
Developmental Language Disorder Developmental expressive language disorder is a disorder in which a child has lower-than-normal proficiency for his or her age in vocabulary, the production of complex sentences, and recall of words.
Dopamine A chemical transmitter in the brain similar to adrenaline. Dopamine affects brain processes that control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain.
Double Blind A type of study in which neither the subject taking the drug nor the investigator giving them the drug know whether it is the active, real drug or a placebo.
DSM-IV DSM-IV Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition. One of two standards (the other is ICD-1) for diagnosing all mental disorders by symptom.
E  
Epidemiolgic, Epidemiology The part of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population
Etiology The study of the causes or origins of a disease.
event-related brain wave potentials, ERP A method used to measure electrical response from portions of the brain during presentation of various stimuli such as a spoken word or a tone.
F  
Face Fusiform Area A region of the lateral part of the brain, the "Fusiform Gyrus", is active during the recognition of human faces in typically developing people.
Functional MRI A type of magnetic resonant imaging (MRI) scanning in which scientists can see what parts of the brain are active while a subject is performing a task, such as solving a math problem in the MRI scanner. Functional MRI (fMRI) can tell us which areas of the brain are active in some individuals with a disorder (eg, those with autism) versus typically developing individuals
G  
Gyrus Measure of the brain's electrical activity (potentials) in response to stimuli (events) in the environment. The most widely used stimuli are auditory or visual.
H  
Heritable Capable of being inherited or of passing on by inheritance from one individual to another.
High-Functioning Autism High-functioning autism is defined by children who are autistic by definition yet are able to communicate, do not have overly severe social impairments, and have only minor deficits in autism. Their IQ ratings are near normal, normal, or even high.
Hippocampus A part of the brain involved in spatial orientation and plays an important role in establishing memories.
Holistically All together, as a unit
I  
Insula The insula is an oval-shaped region of the brain hidden from the surface
IQ Intelligence quotient; the mental age divided by the chronological age and multiplied by 100.
Intraveneous infusion A method for delivering a drug in solution by placing a catheter in a vein and "infusing" or delivering the fluid with the active drug.
J  
K  
L  
Linear regression A type of analysis of data—linear regression is used to make predictions about a single value. Simple linear regression involves discovering the equation for a line that most nearly fits the given data. That linear equation is then used to predict values for the data.
M  
Melatonin A naturally occuring hormone secreted by the "pineal" gland. In humans, it likely plays a role in establishing 24-hour (circadian) sleep rhythms.
Monozygotic twin Identical twins produced from the same egg. This is opposed to "dizygotic" twins, which are twins produced from separate eggs in the mother.
MRI Scans Magnetic Resonant Imaging—a type of imaging technique used to see internal structures of the body, especially soft tissues like the brain. An MRI image is superior to a normal X-ray image.
Multiplex Families Those families in which there is more than one child with the disorder—ie, autism
N  
Neurotransmitter A chemical in the brain that transmits messages from one nerve cell to another.
O  
Oxytocin One of two hormones produced in the posterior pituitary, a part of the brain (see Vasopressin). Oxytocin stimulates contraction of uterine smooth muscle. During labor it effects delivery of the fetus. Oxytocin causes muscle contraction of the mammary and milk ejection.
P  
p<0.001 The "p" in this expression refers to "probablility" and the "<" means "less than"....here, p is less than 0.001 means that there is a probability of 1 in 1,000 that the outcome could be by chance alone—in other words, the finding is "statistically significant" or higly probable. P-values indicate how likely a result is due to chance. A p-value of 0.05 is assigned, when the obtained result is among those that (theoretically) would occur no more than 5 out of 100 times when the only factors operating are the chance variations that occur whenever random samples are drawn.
Pancreas An organ in the body that secretes chemicals (enzymes) helping digestion as well as insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels.
Pediatrician A doctor who specializes in treating children.
Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) Disorders characterized by severe and pervasive impairments in several areas of development such as social skills, communication skills, or sterotyped behaviors, interestes, and activities. PDDs include several disorders including austim and Asperger disorder.
PDD-NOS Pervasive developmental disorders-not otherwise specified. This category of disorders is used in severe and pervasive impairment in social interactions, verbal/nonverbal skills, or certain behaviors and activities—but the criteria are not met for PDD (see above). This may include "atypical autism."
Peptides Small proteins in the body
Placebo A "dummy" medication ("sugar pill") having no specific activity or action in the body. With a pill taken by mouth (orally), for example, the placebo is a pill identical in appearance to the pill with the active medicine. Subjects are given a placebo to test for the psychological aspects of giving the medicine—that is, some people complain of side effects (nausea, headache) and even improve with a placebo.
Prevalence The percentage of a population that is affected with a specific disease at a given time.
Proband The first member of a family to come to the notice of a researcher, and through whom investigation of a pedigree began. Normally the individual is selected because of the presence of a disorder whose inheritance is to be studied.
Putamen A part of the brain, one of the three major areas that make up the basal ganglia, an area deep in the brain that organizes motor behavior.
Q  
R  
Retrospective Study A retrospective study is a study that looks backwards in time. When we study a disease that takes a long time to appear, we may need to use a retrospective study. A retrospective study may be one in which doctors examine the medical charts of patients that have a disease to find out if certain medications had any effect on them—they were treated in the past and therefore, the doctors are studying the patients retrospectively.
S  
Serotonin A neurotransmitter in the brain involved in regulating mood and behaviors.
Serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) A class of drugs that are used as anti-depressants. They increase the levels of serotonin (see above) in the body by inhibiting its re-uptake in the nerve cell.
Statistically Significant Describes a mathematical measure of difference between groups in a study. The difference is said to be statistically significant if it is greater than what might be expected to happen by chance alone.
Singleton Families Those families in which there is only one child with the disorder—ie, autism.
Stererotyped behaviors Behaviors in an individual (with autism, for example) that are repeated many times.
Superior Temporal Sulcus (STS) This region in the temporal lobe is important in coding social signals, e.g. the sight of faces, bodies walking and hands performing actions with objects.
T  
U  
V  
Vasopressin A hormone secreted in the brain (the posterior pituitary). The posterior pituitary secretes two hormones, vaspopressin and oxytocin (see oxytocin), that are medically important. It has antidiuretic properties - it suppresses the rate of urine formation - and is also called antidiuretic hormone (ADH) and vasopressor properties it stimulates contraction of blood vessels and raises blood pressure.
W  
White Matter (in the brain) Nerve tissue that is paler in color than gray matter because it contains nerve fibers with large amounts of insulating material (myelin). The white matter does not contain nerve cells. In the brain, the white matter lies within the gray layer of the cerebral cortex.
X-Y-Z