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Domellöf E, Hjärtström H, Johansson AM, Rudolfsson T, Stillesjö S, Säfström D. Brain activations during execution and observation of visually guided sequential manual movements in autism and in typical development: A study protocol. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0296225. [PMID: 38913636 PMCID: PMC11195952 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0296225] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Motor issues are frequently observed accompanying core deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Impaired motor behavior has also been linked to cognitive and social abnormalities, and problems with predictive ability have been suggested to play an important, possibly shared, part across all these domains. Brain imaging of sensory-motor behavior is a promising method for characterizing the neurobiological foundation for this proposed key trait. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) developmental study, involving children/youth with ASD, typically developing (TD) children/youth, and neurotypical adults, will investigate brain activations during execution and observation of a visually guided, goal-directed sequential (two-step) manual task. Neural processing related to both execution and observation of the task, as well as activation patterns during the preparation stage before execution/observation will be investigated. Main regions of interest include frontoparietal and occipitotemporal cortical areas, the human mirror neuron system (MNS), and the cerebellum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Domellöf
- Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | | | - Anna-Maria Johansson
- Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Department of Health, Education and Technology, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden
| | - Thomas Rudolfsson
- Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Department of Occupational Health, Psychology and Sports Sciences, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden
| | | | - Daniel Säfström
- Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
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Fourie E, Palser ER, Pokorny JJ, Neff M, Rivera SM. Neural Processing and Production of Gesture in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Psychol 2020; 10:3045. [PMID: 32038408 PMCID: PMC6987472 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/23/2019] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate impairments in non-verbal communication, including gesturing and imitation deficits. Reduced sensitivity to biological motion (BM) in ASD may impair processing of dynamic social cues like gestures, which in turn may impede encoding and subsequent performance of these actions. Using both an fMRI task involving observation of action gestures and a charade style paradigm assessing gesture performance, this study examined the brain-behavior relationships between neural activity during gesture processing, gesturing abilities and social symptomology in a group of children and adolescents with and without ASD. Compared to typically developing (TD) controls, participants with ASD showed atypical sensitivity to movement in right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), a region implicated in action processing, and had poorer overall gesture performance with specific deficits in hand posture. The TD group showed associations between neural activity, gesture performance and social skills, that were weak or non-significant in the ASD group. These findings suggest that those with ASD demonstrate abnormalities in both processing and production of gestures and may reflect dysfunction in the mechanism underlying perception-action coupling resulting in atypical development of social and communicative skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Fourie
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.,Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Eleanor R Palser
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Jennifer J Pokorny
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Michael Neff
- Department of Computer Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.,Department of Cinema and Digital Media, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Susan M Rivera
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.,Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.,MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, United States
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