In recent months, artificial intelligence (AI) has been making its presence known in different fields of sciences. In fact, AI is deemed as a valuable asset in precision medicine. But now, a team of researchers is exploring the possibilities if machine learning could play a vital part in autism screening, diagnostics and intervention.
What Is Autism?
Before delving deeper into the latest research on the importance of artificial intelligence in autism screening and diagnostics, let's first define the two most relevant subjects on the study - autism and machine learning. According to Autism Speaks, autism refers to the "general term used for group of complex disorders of brain development," which are marked by social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication difficulties, as well as repetitive behaviors.
What is Machine Learning?
In the United States, one in 68 children are diagnosed with autism. Machine learning, on the other hand, is a form of artificial intelligence that "provides computers with the ability to learn without being overtly programmed, What Is notes.
Artificial Intelligence And Autism
Based on the research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry titled, "Use of Machine Learning to Improve Autism Screening and Diagnostic Instruments: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Multi-Instrument," a team of USC Viterbi School of Engineering Ming Hsieh's Department of Electrical Engineering's Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory (SAIL) researchers headed by autism research leaders Catherine Lord of Weill Cornell Medical College and Somer Bishop of University of California, San Francisco found that artificial intelligence or machine learning can offer a much clearer insight on autism, Medical Xpress reveals.
Study authors Daniel Bone, Somer Bishop, Matthew P. Black, Matthew Goodwin, Catherine Lord and Shrikanth S. Narayanan also believed that the use of artificial intelligence could be revolutionary in the clinical diagnosis of autism. According to them, machine learning has the ability to eliminate "the guesswork or subjectivity involved even in trusted, industry-wide instruments," as it provides a more effective and more systematic diagnosis, as per Science Daily.
"We are building the science first, then translating science back into useful technology--all through interdisciplinary partnerships," Narayanan said about their findings, EurekAlert! quotes.
Autism Vs. Alexithymia
In other autism-related news, it's already a given fact that there's a preconceived notion on people with autism, claiming they lack empathy and cannot identify or understand emotions. But according to Scientific American, this impression is wrong, saying that people with autism do feel emotions but have a difficulty understanding and identifying those emotions.
This condition is known as alexithymia. Almost 50 percent of people with autism and 10 percent of the global population have alexithymia.
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