Every time John and his mother go to Rite Aid, he insists that they take the same route every time. Every time he entered a new Rite Aid, he would have to walk for five to ten minutes and when he got home, he would draw a perfectly memorized map of the floor plan of that particular pharmacy. Often, it is difficult for John to make eye contact with others, and instead he may fidget, rock his body back and forth, or even bang his head against the wall. These abnormal behaviors can be attributed to the fact that John was diagnosed with a disorder called autism at the age of three. Autism is a behavioral syndrome linked to differences in brain function and sensory responses. The disorder affects normal brain development in areas such as social interactions and communication skills, leading to a deficit in these areas. Recent studies have attributed this deficit and difficulty in social interaction in autistic children to poor functioning of the mirror neuron system. Researchers have discovered that mirror neurons perform the same functions that are disrupted in autism. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that one cause of autism is a dysfunctional mirror neuron system, given that the presumed functions of this class of neurons – such as empathy, intention reading, mimicry, pretend play and language learning – are deficient. autism. Studying the unexpected relationship between mirror neurons and autism is vital as it could have implications for the development of early behavioral interventions aimed at training the basic mechanisms supported by the mirror neuron system, rather than attempting to correct higher levels of complex behaviors. Mirror neurons are a newly discovered specific class of ner...... middle of paper ......m. These many elements have implications for the development of early behavioral interventions aimed at sorting out the basic mechanisms supported by the mirror neuron system, rather than correcting more complex behaviors. Works Cited Hulman, John. University of California, San Diego. “Autism linked to mirror neuron dysfunction.” ScienceDaily, April 18, 2005. 1-4.Web. November 29, 2013. Hadjikhani, Nouchine. “Mirror neuron system and autism.” Nova Science Publishers, 2007. 151-166. Print. Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. and Lindsay S. Oberman. “Broken Mirrors: A Scientific Theory of Autism” (2006): November 29. 2013.Ramachandran, VS Interview by Jason Marsh. “Do mirror neurons give us empathy?” Norton & Company, Inc.., 2011. 58-152..