Hippocampal contributions to social and cognitive deficits in autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by hallmark impairments in social functioning. Nevertheless, nonsocial cognition, including hippocampus-dependent spatial reasoning and episodic memory, is also commonly impaired in ASD. ASD symptoms typically emerge between 12 and 24 months of age, a time window associated with critical developmental events in the hippocampus. Despite this temporal overlap and evidence of hippocampal structural abnormalities in ASD individuals, relatively few human studies have focused on hippocampal function in ASD. Herein, we review the existing evidence for the involvement of the hippocampus in ASD and highlight the hippocampus as a promising area of interest for future research in ASD.