CANBERRA (Dispatches) -- High-tech 3D facial scans are being used to give us a better understanding of the genetic causes of autism, Australian researchers report.
Edith Cowan University scientists used sophisticated machine learning techniques to analyse 5000 points on faces to measure facial asymmetry in parents of children on the autism spectrum.
In the study researchers compared the facial asymmetry of 192 parents of autistic children to 163 adults with no known history of autism.
They found parents of children on the autism spectrum had more asymmetric faces than other adults of a similar age.
Edith Cowan University (ECU) School of Science Research Fellow Dr Syed Zulqarnian Gilani said that the findings suggest there could be a link between the genes which affect the likelihood of an individual having greater facial asymmetry and autism. He believes that by using the cutting-edge 3D scans of faces combined with machine learning techniques
they can distinguish between thousands of subtle differences in faces to determine an overall facial asymmetry score.