Neuropsychological Profile of Autism and the Broad Autism Phenotype

There now exist multiple reports of a constellation of language, personality, and social-behavioral features present among relatives that mirror the symptom domains of autism, but much milder in expression. Studies of this ‘broad autism phenotype’ (BAP) may provide a potentially important, complementary approach for detecting the genes causing autism and defining associated neural circuitry, by identifying more refined phenotypes which can be measured quantitatively in both affected and unaffected individuals, and which are tied to functioning in particular regions of the brain