In this episode, we explore three regions associated with social awareness- the medial Prefrontal Cortex, the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, and the Insula. We review the functions of each, the interactions between each region, and the inputs and bi-directional connections to some crucial areas of the brain. In large part, we will review adaptive responses and cover some scientific literature on these regions and the implications to Autism.

https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-024-00593-6

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9354837/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6766703/#:~:text=Schematic%20structure%20of%20different%20regions,and%20infralimbic%20cortex%20(IL).

https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(12)01108-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627312011087%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06016-9

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763409000815?via%3Dihub#aep-section-id15

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17470919.2023.2242095

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006322308011578

(0:00) Intro; mPFC, ACC, and Insula

(3:26) mPFC, Excitation / Inhibition; CNTNAP2, SHANK3, Neuroligin, and PTEN

(7:42) Functions of mPFC and a primary dive into Adaptive Responses; Neuromodulators

(13:52) ACC

(15:23) the mPFC and ACC lead the way

(19:29) Scientific Studies on Theory of Mind Task and Sensory Processing

(21:52) Insula

(26:49) Scientific Study: Eye Gaze, Social Attention, Social Cognition, Observational Learning

(30:11) Social and Nonsocial Studies- different areas for Autistics versus Non-Autistic

(32:38) A study using 6-week-old Infants, attentional biases and sensorimotor and different brain areas

(35:05) Wrap Up

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