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Francesca Happé on autism

Professor Francesca Happé talks to Jim al-Khalili about her research into the the abilities and assets of people with autism and how she recognised autism in women.

When Francesca Happé started out as a research psychologist thirty years ago, she thought she could easily find out all there was to know about autism – and perhaps that wouldn’t have been impossible as there were so few papers published on it. Francesca’s studies have increased our knowledge of how people with autism experience the world around them, and their social interactions. She’s looked at their brains using various imaging techniques, studied the families of people with autism to explore their genetics, and raised awareness of how the condition can appear differently in women than in men. Jim al-Khalili talks to Francesca, now Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in London, about her research career and her current projects, including how people with autism experience mental health issues, such as PTSD.

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28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 1 Sep 2020 09:00
  • Tue 1 Sep 2020 21:30

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