The Autism Research Group

The ARG comprises a number of academic staff, postdoctoral fellows and doctoral students who share an interest in understanding the psychological and neurocognitive underpinnings of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Our current research efforts focus mainly on aspects of learning and memory in ASD with additional lines of inquiry in the areas of early stages of visual perception, face processing and psychophysiology. ARG also hosts the editorial office of the Journal Autism.

What is the Autism Spectrum?

The Austism Spectrum comprises a set of conditions (Austistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder & Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified) that are primarily characterised by abnormalities in the domains of reciprocal social interaction and communication as well as by a tendency to engage in repetitive and stereotyped forms of behaviour. The patterning and severity of these behavioural manifestations varies widely across individuals, but the attribution of a common set of atypical functions underlying these different manifestations is justified by similarities in the early developmental trajectories of individuals from all parts of the spectrum. Although once thought to be rare, ASD is now known to affect approximately 1% of the population and the incidence in males is around four times that of the incidence in females. Scientists are unanimous in the view that ASD has a biological cause, but as yet, the genetic and neurobiological underpinnings of these conditions are poorly understood. At the cognitive and psychological level somewhat more progress has been made over the past decades and it is now clear that ASD is characterised by a complex constellation of typical and atypical functioning in a host of cognitive and psychological processes. Trying to unravel this complexity and thereby contribute to the building of a foundation for more biologically based explanations of ASD, is the principal goal of the work in our group.

Members of the Group

Academic Staff:
Professor Dermot Bowler
Professor Jill Boucher
Dr. Paul Constable

Honorary Visiting Professor:
Professor John Gardiner

Research Staff:
Dr. Sebastian Gaigg
Dr. Sophie Lind

PhD Students:
Niki Daniel
Katie Maras
Esha Massand
Esther Strom