Given the determinant role of α7-nAChRs regulating the CNS synaptic transmission and plasticity that underlie the normal processes of attention, cognition, learning, and memory (See Ref. (25) and references therein), receptor dysfunction due to decreased expression and/or activity has been linked to a wide array of neurocognitive disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity, autism, and epilepsy (23, 26, 27, 28, 29). The gene discussed is CHRNA7; the disease is autism.