How might these cerebellar and limbic system findings cause or contribute to autism?
It is more difficult to correlate the autopsy findings in the cerebellum to the clinical features of autism than it is to link impaired limbic system structures to the syndrome. It is possible that, in addition to its involvement in balance and coordination, the cerebellum plays a role in the areas of emotion, cognition, behavior, mental imagery, anticipatory planning, spatial orientation and some aspects of language processing and attention. More compelling and clear-cut is the correspondence between behaviors seen in autism and the limbic system’s recognized roles in memory, emotion and social expression. Specifically, the amygdala controls aggression and emotions, which ties into both the aggressive and self-abusive behaviors of some autistic individuals, as well as their extreme passivity and appearance of being emotionless or “flat.” Neuronal activity in the amygdala is related to memory formation, especially under conditions of emotional arousal. Experiments have shown that when
