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The Neurobiological Basis for Social Affiliation in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia

  • Psychosis (A Ahmed, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Social interaction and communication are complex behavioral paradigms involving many components. Many different neurotransmitters, hormones, sensory inputs, and brain regions are involved in the act of social engagement and verbal or nonverbal communication. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia are two neurodevelopmental disorders that have social and language deficits as hallmark symptoms but show very different etiologies. The output of social dysfunction is common to both ASD and schizophrenia, but this likely arises from very different pathophysiological means. This review will attempt to compile and interpret human and animal studies showing the neurobiological basis for the development of social and language deficits in ASD and schizophrenia as well as a comparison of the two disorders.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA

    Amanda Crider & Anilkumar Pillai

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  1. Amanda Crider
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Correspondence to Anilkumar Pillai.

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Dr. Amanda Crider and Dr. Anilkumar Pillai declare that they have no conflict of interest.

This work was supported by the National Institute of Health (R01MH097060) to AP.

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Crider, A., Pillai, A. The Neurobiological Basis for Social Affiliation in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 3, 154–164 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-016-0079-0

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