Autism and the mirror neuron system: insights from learning and teaching

Protective factors for children with autism spectrum disorder during COVID-19-related strict lockdowns: a Shanghai autism early developmental cohort study

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 lockdowns increased the risk of mental health problems, especially for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, despite its importance, little is known about the protective factors for ASD children during the lockdowns.

METHODS

Based on the Shanghai Autism Early Developmental Cohort, 188 ASD children with two visits before and after the strict Omicron lockdown were included; 85 children were lockdown-free, while 52 and 51 children were under the longer and the shorter durations of strict lockdown, respectively. We tested the association of the lockdown group with the clinical improvement and also the modulation effects of parent/family-related factors on this association by linear regression/mixed-effect models. Within the social brain structures, we examined the voxel-wise interaction between the grey matter volume and the identified modulation effects.

RESULTS

Compared with the lockdown-free group, the ASD children experienced the longer duration of strict lockdown had less clinical improvement (β = 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.19-0.79], p = 0.001) and this difference was greatest for social cognition (2.62 [0.94-4.30], p = 0.002). We found that this association was modulated by parental agreeableness in a protective way (-0.11 [-0.17 to -0.05], p = 0.002). This protective effect was enhanced in the ASD children with larger grey matter volumes in the brain's mentalizing network, including the temporal pole, the medial superior frontal gyrus, and the superior temporal gyrus.

CONCLUSIONS

This longitudinal neuroimaging cohort study identified that the parental agreeableness interacting with the ASD children's social brain development reduced the negative impact on clinical symptoms during the strict lockdown.

Support Needs of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Implications for Their Assessment

The construct of support needs has become a key aspect for the diagnostics, classification, and interventional management of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, instruments specifically designed to assess support needs in this population are not available. Currently, the Supports Intensity Scale for Children (SIS-C), which could be administered to assess students with any type of intellectual disability (ID), is the only valid tool able to assess support needs in Spain. Our aim was to verify whether the SIS-C is useful for assessing the support needs of students with ASD, regardless of whether or not they present ID. The participants were subdivided into two groups. One group included students with ASD and ID (n = 248), and the other comprised participants with ASD without an ID (n = 44). The results of the two groups were compared with those reported in the original validation sample of the SIS-C, which involved participants with ID without ASD (n = 566). The results showed that this scale could be useful for assessing support needs in the three subgroups, but it appeared that different standardized norms based on the characteristics of each specific population would be appropriate.

Familiarization with Mixed Reality for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye Tracking Study

Mixed Reality (MR) technology is experiencing significant growth in the industrial and healthcare sectors. The headset HoloLens 2 displays virtual objects (in the form of holograms) in the user's environment in real-time. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit, according to the DSM-5, persistent deficits in communication and social interaction, as well as a different sensitivity compared to neurotypical (NT) individuals. This study aims to propose a method for familiarizing eleven individuals with severe ASD with the HoloLens 2 headset and the use of MR technology through a tutorial. The secondary objective is to obtain quantitative learning indicators in MR, such as execution speed and eye tracking (ET), by comparing individuals with ASD to neurotypical individuals. We observed that 81.81% of individuals with ASD successfully familiarized themselves with MR after several sessions. Furthermore, the visual activity of individuals with ASD did not differ from that of neurotypical individuals when they successfully familiarized themselves. This study thus offers new perspectives on skill acquisition indicators useful for supporting neurodevelopmental disorders. It contributes to a better understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying learning in MR for individuals with ASD.

Observing a trained demonstrator influences associative appetitive learning in rats

The ability to acquire information about the environment through social observation or instruction is an essential form of learning in humans and other animals. Here, we assessed the ability of rats to acquire an association between a light stimulus and the presentation of a reward that is either hidden (sucrose solution) or visible (food pellet) via observation of a trained demonstrator. Subsequent training of observers on the light-reward association indicated that while observation alone was not sufficient for observers to acquire the association, contact with the reward location was higher in observers that were paired with a demonstrator. However, this was only true when the light cue predicted a sucrose reward. Additionally, we found that in the visible reward condition, levels of demonstrator orienting and food cup contact during the observation period tended to be positively correlated with the corresponding behaviour of their observer. This relationship was only seen during later sessions of observer training. Together, these results suggest that while our models were not sufficient to induce associative learning through observation alone, demonstrator behaviour during observation did influence how their paired observer's behavioural response to the cue evolved over the course of direct individual training.

Toddlers at Elevated Likelihood for Autism: Exploring Sensory and Language Treatment Predictors

Baseline child characteristics may predict treatment outcomes in children with or at elevated likelihood of developing autism (EL-ASD). Little is known about the role of child sensory and language features on treatment outcome. Participants were randomly assigned to a parent-mediated intervention or control condition. Analyses explored the relationship between baseline child sensory and language characteristics and changes in ASD symptoms over approximately 9 months. Higher baseline sensory hyporeactivity was significantly related to less improvement in social communication (SC) for the treatment group only. More baseline atypical vocalizations were significantly related to less improvement on SC across treatment and control groups. This work provides an initial framework to encourage the tailoring of interventions for EL-ASD children, suggesting sensory reactivity and atypical vocalizations may be useful behaviors to consider in treatment planning.

New Methods for Unraveling Imitation Accuracy Differences Between Children with Autism and Typically Developing Peers

This study applies methods used in sign language and gesture research to better understand reduced imitation accuracy (IA) of actions and gestures in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and we addressed contrasting theories on IA in ASD and the role of objects and meanings in imitation. Eight male children with ASD with a mean chronological age (CA) of 86.76 months (SD = 10.74, range 70.5-104.4) and 22 male and female peers with typical development (TD) and a mean CA of 85.44 months (SD = 7.95, range 73.4-96.7) imitated videos of an adult performing actions with objects, representational gestures, conventional gestures and meaningless gestures. We measured accuracy as ability to effectively reproduce features (handshape, palm orientation, location, movement direction and type) and timing (speed) of observed actions/gestures, after ruling out cases of specular (i.e., mirror-like) versus anatomical imitation. Results highlighted significantly lower feature and timing accuracy in children with ASD with respect to the TD group across tasks, and these findings supported sensory-motor theories of IA in ASD. Our data also showed the different impact of objects and meanings within groups. Overall, these results suggest validity to our assessment method and suggested the importance of considering both discreet variables (i.e., variables describing action/gesture feature accuracy, e.g. handshape, movement direction) and continuous variables (i.e., kinematic variables, e.g. speed) in evaluating IA in autism.

Identifying and Predicting Autism Spectrum Disorder Based on Multi-Site Structural MRI With Machine Learning

Although emerging evidence has implicated structural/functional abnormalities of patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), definitive neuroimaging markers remain obscured due to inconsistent or incompatible findings, especially for structural imaging. Furthermore, brain differences defined by statistical analysis are difficult to implement individual prediction. The present study has employed the machine learning techniques under the unified framework in neuroimaging to identify the neuroimaging markers of patients with ASD and distinguish them from typically developing controls(TDC). To enhance the interpretability of the machine learning model, the study has processed three levels of assessments including model-level assessment, feature-level assessment, and biology-level assessment. According to these three levels assessment, the study has identified neuroimaging markers of ASD including the opercular part of bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, the orbital part of right inferior frontal gyrus, right rolandic operculum, right olfactory cortex, right gyrus rectus, right insula, left inferior parietal gyrus, bilateral supramarginal gyrus, bilateral angular gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus, and left inferior temporal gyrus. In addition, negative correlations between the communication skill score in the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS_G) and regional gray matter (GM) volume in the gyrus rectus, left middle temporal gyrus, and inferior temporal gyrus have been detected. A significant negative correlation has been found between the communication skill score in ADOS_G and the orbital part of the left inferior frontal gyrus. A negative correlation between verbal skill score and right angular gyrus and a significant negative correlation between non-verbal communication skill and right angular gyrus have been found. These findings in the study have suggested the GM alteration of ASD and correlated with the clinical severity of ASD disease symptoms. The interpretable machine learning framework gives sight to the pathophysiological mechanism of ASD but can also be extended to other diseases.

Implicit and Explicit Memory in Youths with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case-Control Study

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually manifest heterogeneous impairments in their higher cognitive functions, including their implicit memory (IM) and explicit memory (EM). However, the findings on IM and EM in youths with ASD remain debated. The aim of this study was to clarify such conflicting results by examining IM and EM using two comparable versions of the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) in the same group of children and adolescents with ASD. Twenty-five youths with high-functioning ASD and 29 age-matched and IQ-matched typically developing youths undertook both tasks. The ability to implicitly learn the temporal sequence of events across the blocks in the SRTT was intact in the youths with ASD. When they were tested for EM, the participants with ASD did not experience a significant reduction in their reaction times during the blocks with the previously learned sequence, suggesting an impairment in EM. Moreover, the participants with ASD were less accurate and made more omissions than the controls in the EM task. The implications of these findings for the establishment of tailored educational programs for children with high-functioning ASD are discussed.

A generative network model of neurodevelopmental diversity in structural brain organization

The formation of large-scale brain networks, and their continual refinement, represent crucial developmental processes that can drive individual differences in cognition and which are associated with multiple neurodevelopmental conditions. But how does this organization arise, and what mechanisms drive diversity in organization? We use generative network modeling to provide a computational framework for understanding neurodevelopmental diversity. Within this framework macroscopic brain organization, complete with spatial embedding of its organization, is an emergent property of a generative wiring equation that optimizes its connectivity by renegotiating its biological costs and topological values continuously over time. The rules that govern these iterative wiring properties are controlled by a set of tightly framed parameters, with subtle differences in these parameters steering network growth towards different neurodiverse outcomes. Regional expression of genes associated with the simulations converge on biological processes and cellular components predominantly involved in synaptic signaling, neuronal projection, catabolic intracellular processes and protein transport. Together, this provides a unifying computational framework for conceptualizing the mechanisms and diversity in neurodevelopment, capable of integrating different levels of analysis-from genes to cognition.

Theories of Autism and Autism Treatment from the DSM III Through the Present and Beyond: Impact on Research and Practice

The purely descriptive definition of autism introduced by the DSM III in 1980 marked a departure from previous DSM editions, which mixed phenomenological descriptions with psychoanalytic theories of etiology. This provided a blank slate upon which a variety of novel theories emerged to conceptualize autism and its treatment in the following four decades. In this article we examine the contribution of these different theoretical orientations with a focus on their impact on research and practice, areas of overlap and conflict between current theories, and their relevance in the context of the evolving landscape of scientific knowledge and societal views of autism.

The Autism-Competency-Group (AutCom). A promising approach to promote social skills in adults with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are often associated with intellectual disability (ID). ASD-specific group concepts usually focus on people on a high functioning level. The Autism-Competence-Group (AutCom) combines a psycho-educative approach with music and dance/movement interventions in adults with ASD and ID. AutCom includes 16 structured 90-minute sessions to foster social and emotional competencies. This study investigates the acceptability and effectiveness of AutCom. Practicability and acceptability were measured based on participation frequency and patient satisfaction (CSQ-8). Efficacy was assessed in a pre-post design (N = 12) based on self- and third-party assessment with a control group matched by gender and level of ID. Primary outcome variables were social and emotional competence, and secondary outcomes were challenging behavior and quality of life. A participation rate of 86% indicated practicability; high CSQ-8 scores (M = 30 of max. 32) indicated acceptability. Significant improvement was found in social competence compared to the control group and emotional competence in the pre-post self-assessment on the AutCom questionnaire. No significant improvement was found in challenging behavior and quality of life. AutCom is shown to be a promising and highly accepted group concept in fostering social and emotional skills in adults with ASD and ID.

Contagious itching is heightened in children with autism spectrum disorders

The authors tested susceptibility to contagious itching, laughter, and yawning in 55 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ages 8-14, and 106 typically developing (TD) children, ages 5-14. Children with ASD were less likely to yawn or laugh contagiously compared with TD peers, but showed increased susceptibility to contagious itching, under naturalistic conditions. Contagious yawning and laughter were positively correlated with emotional empathy in the TD group. In contrast, contagious itching showed no relationship to empathy, and was positively correlated with autism symptom severity in the ASD group. The authors explore the implications of these findings in terms of psychological theories about ASD.

Social origins of self-regulated attention during infancy and their disruption in autism spectrum disorder: Implications for early intervention

To understand the complex relationships between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other frequently comorbid conditions, a growing number of studies have investigated the emergence of ASD during infancy. This research has suggested that symptoms of ASD and highly related comorbid conditions emerge from complex interactions between neurodevelopmental vulnerabilities and early environments, indicating that developing treatments to prevent ASD is highly challenging. However, it also suggests that attenuating the negative effects of ASD on future development once identified is possible. The present paper builds on this by conceptualizing developmental delays in nonsocial skills as the potential product of altered caregiver-infant interactions following the emergence of ASD during infancy. And, following emerging findings from caregiver-infant dyadic head-mounted eye-tracking (D-ET) research, it also suggests that a multiple pathway model of joint attention can provide mechanistic insights into how ASD alters the ability of caregiver and infant to create a context for infant learning. The potential for this view to inform early intervention is further discussed and illustrated through D-ET data collected prior to and following a brief, parent-mediated intervention for infant ASD. While promising, further research informing how a multiple pathway model of joint attention can inform ASD early intervention is needed.

Learning of skilled movements via imitation in ASD

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) consists of altered performance of a range of skills, including social/communicative and motor skills. It is unclear whether this altered performance results from atypical acquisition or learning of the skills or from atypical "online" performance of the skills. Atypicalities of skilled actions that require both motor and cognitive resources, such as abnormal gesturing, are highly prevalent in ASD and are easier to study in a laboratory context than are social/communicative skills. Imitation has long been known to be impaired in ASD; because learning via imitation is a prime method by which humans acquire skills, we tested the hypothesis that children with ASD show alterations in learning novel gestures via imitation. Eighteen participants with ASD and IQ > 80, ages 8-12.9 years, and 19 typically developing peers performed a task in which they watched a video of a model performing a novel, meaningless arm/hand gesture and copied the gesture. Each gesture video/copy sequence was repeated 4-6 times. Eight gestures were analyzed. Examination of learning trajectories revealed that while children with ASD made nearly as much progress in learning from repetition 1 to repetition 4, the shape of the learning curves differed. Causal modeling demonstrated the shape of the learning curve influenced both the performance of overlearned gestures and autism severity, suggesting that it is in the index of learning mechanisms relevant both to motor skills and to autism core features. Autism Res 2020, 13: 777-784.. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Imitation is a route by which humans learn a wide range of skills, naturally and in therapies. Imitation is known to be altered in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but learning via imitation has not been rigorously examined. We found that the shape of the learning curve is altered in ASD, in a way that has a significant impact both on measures of autism severity and of other motor skills.

An exploration of neural dynamics of motor imagery for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

OBJECTIVE

Studies of the neuropathological effects of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on the underlying motor system have investigated abnormalities in the magnitude and timing of the event-related desynchronization (ERD) and synchronization (ERS) during motor execution (ME). However, the spatio-spectral-temporal dynamics of these sensorimotor oscillations during motor imagery (MI) have not been fully explored for these patients. This study explores the neural dynamics of sensorimotor oscillations for ALS patients during MI by quantifying ERD/ERS features in frequency, time, and space.

APPROACH

Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were recorded from six patients with ALS and 11 age-matched healthy controls (HC) while performing a MI task. ERD/ERS features were extracted using wavelet-based time-frequency analysis and compared between the two groups to quantify the abnormal neural dynamics of ALS in terms of both time and frequency. Topographic correlation analysis was conducted to compare the localization of MI activity between groups and to identify subject-specific frequencies in the µ and β frequency bands.

MAIN RESULTS

Overall, reduced and delayed ERD was observed for ALS patients, particularly during right-hand MI. ERD features were also correlated with ALS clinical scores, specifically disease duration, bulbar, and cognitive functions.

SIGNIFICANCE

The analyses in this study quantify abnormalities in the magnitude and timing of sensorimotor oscillations for ALS patients during MI tasks. Our findings reveal notable differences between MI and existing results on ME in ALS. The observed alterations are speculated to reflect disruptions in the underlying cortical networks involved in MI functions. Quantifying the neural dynamics of MI plays an important role in the study of EEG-based cortical markers for ALS.

Empathy Impairment in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Conditions From a Multidimensional Perspective: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Although empathy has always been considered to be impaired in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASCs), the relevant findings have been inconsistent. The present meta-analysis aims to determine which empathy components are impaired and how culture, gender, and age moderate such empathy impairment.

Methods: By using “Autism,” “Asperger Syndrome,” “Empathy,” and related Chinese synonyms as keywords, we searched the databases of Weipu, Wanfang, CNKI, Web of Science, Science Direct, SpringerLink, and Elsevier through “subject” and “keyword” searches. We also conducted a manual search according to the references. In total, 51 studies from Eastern and Western countries were included in this meta-analysis, which comprised 144 independent effects, 2,095 individuals with ASCs and 2,869 controls without ASCs. For the retrieved data, Hedge's g was taken as the quantitative measure of effect, and CMA V2.0 software was used for publication bias tests (by using Rosenthal's Classic Failsafe-N and Egger's methods), heterogeneity tests (by using a Q-test, I²-test, and H-test) and a moderating effect test (by using a univariate regression model).

Results: The results showed that the empathy impairment evident in individuals with ASCs is component specific; that is, trait-cognitive empathy, trait-empathic concern, state-cognitive empathy, and state-empathic concern are impaired, whereas state-empathic accuracy remains intact, and trait-empathic accuracy is superior to the trait-empathic accuracy in neurotypical individuals. The univariate regression model showed that gender moderates the impairment of the trait-empathic concern, trait-empathic accuracy, and state-cognitive empathy in autistic individuals and that age moderates the impairment of the trait-cognitive empathy, trait-empathic accuracy, state-empathic concern, and state-empathic accuracy in autistic individuals. However, culture does not moderate any empathy components (trait-cognitive empathy, trait-empathic concern, or state-cognitive empathy) involved in the present meta-analysis.

Conclusions: These findings contribute to ending the controversy over the empathic integrity of individuals with ASCs and shed some light on future research about the empathy impairment of autistic individuals. More specifically, subsequent studies should distinguish specific empathy components and consider the role of gender and age when demonstrating empathy impairment in individuals with ASCs. Moreover, related studies based on Asian collectivist cultural samples and female samples should be further enriched.

Insular function in autism: Update and future directions in neuroimaging and interventions

The insular cortex, hidden within the lateral sulcus of the human brain, participates in a range of cognitive, affective, and sensory functions. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental condition affecting all of these functional domains, has increasingly been linked with atypical activation and connectivity of the insular cortices. Here we review the latest research linking atypical insular function to a range of behaviors characteristic of ASD, with an emphasis on neuroimaging findings in the domains of social cognition and executive function. We summarize some of the recent work linking the insula to interventions in autism, including oxytocin-based pharmacological treatments and music therapy. We suggest that future directions likely to yield significant insights into insular pathology in ASD include the analysis of the dynamics of this brain region. We also conclude that more basic research is necessary on the use of oxytocin pharmacotherapy, and larger studies addressing participant heterogeneity are needed on the use of music therapy in ASD. Long-term studies are needed to ascertain sustained effects of these interventions.

Autism Pathogenesis: The Superior Colliculus

After been exposed to the visual input, in the first year of life, the brain experiences subtle but massive changes apparently crucial for communicative/emotional and social human development. Its lack could be the explanation of the very high prevalence of autism in children with total congenital blindness. The present theory postulates that the superior colliculus is the key structure for such changes for several reasons: it dominates visual behavior during the first months of life; it is ready at birth for complex visual tasks; it has a significant influence on several hemispheric regions; it is the main brain hub that permanently integrates visual and non-visual, external and internal information (bottom-up and top-down respectively); and it owns the enigmatic ability to take non-conscious decisions about where to focus attention. It is also a sentinel that triggers the subcortical mechanisms which drive social motivation to follow faces from birth and to react automatically to emotional stimuli. Through indirect connections it also activates simultaneously several cortical structures necessary to develop social cognition and to accomplish the multiattentional task required for conscious social interaction in real life settings. Genetic or non-genetic prenatal or early postnatal factors could disrupt the SC functions resulting in autism. The timing of postnatal biological disruption matches the timing of clinical autism manifestations. Astonishing coincidences between etiologies, clinical manifestations, cognitive and pathogenic autism theories on one side and SC functions on the other are disclosed in this review. Although the visual system dependent of the SC is usually considered as accessory of the LGN canonical pathway, its imprinting gives the brain a qualitatively specific functions not supplied by any other brain structure.

A Brain-Computer Interface-Based Action Observation Game That Enhances Mu Suppression

Action observation training based on the theory of activation of the mirror-neuron system has been used for the rehabilitation of patients with stroke. In this paper, we sought to assess whether a brain-computer interface (BCI)-based action observation rehabilitation game, using a flickering action video, could preferentially activate the mirror-neuron system. Feedback of stimulus observation, evoked by the flickering action video, was provided using steady state visually evoked potential and event-related desynchronization. Fifteen healthy subjects have experienced the game with BCI interaction (game and interaction), without BCI interaction (game without interaction), observed non-flickering stimuli, and flickering stimuli without the game background (stimuli only) in a counter-balanced order. The game and interface condition was resulted in significantly stronger activation of the mirror-neuron system than did the other three conditions. In addition, the amount of mirror-neuron system activation is gradually decreased in the game without interface, non-flickering stimuli, and stimuli only conditions in a time-dependent manner; however, in the game and interface condition, the amount of mirror-neuron system activation was maintained until the end of the training. Taken together, these data suggest that the proposed game paradigm, which integrates the action observation paradigm with BCI technology, could provide interactive responses for whether watching video clips can engage patients and enhance rehabilitation.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders Affecting Sociability: Recent Research Advances and Future Directions in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Williams Syndrome

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

In this review, we summarize current knowledge and hypotheses on the nature of social abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS).

RECENT FINDINGS

Social phenotypes in ASD and WS appear to reflect analogous disruptions in social cognition, and distinct patterns of social motivation, which appears to be reduced in ASD and enhanced in WS. These abnormalities likely originate from heterogeneous vulnerabilities that disrupt the interplay between domain-general and social domain-specific cognitive and motivational processes during early development. Causal pathways remain unclear. Advances and research gaps in our understanding of the social phenotypes in ASD and WS highlight the importance of (1) parsing the construct of sociability, (2) adopting a developmental perspective, (3) including samples that are representative of the spectrum of severity within ASD and WS in neuroscientific research, and (4) adopting transdiagnostic treatment approaches to target shared areas of impairment across diagnostic boundaries.

Reduced Motor Interference in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Williams Syndrome

Motor interference occurs when action execution is hindered by the observation of an incongruent action. The present study used a novel eye-tracking paradigm to test the motor interference effect in 22 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 14 preschoolers with Williams syndrome (WS), and 18 typically developing (TD) peers. In TD children, performance of a pre-determined action was slower after the observation of an incongruent motor action and faster following observation of a congruent motor action, indicating a motor interference effect. In both the ASD and WS groups, performance was unaffected by the congruent versus incongruent nature of the observed motor action.

From Using Tools to Using Language in Infant Siblings of Children with Autism

Forty-one high-risk infants (HR) with an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were observed longitudinally at 10, 12, 18 and 24 months of age during a tool use task in a play-like scenario. Changes in grasp types and functional actions produced with a spoon were assessed during elicited tool use. Outcome and vocabulary measures were available at 36 months, distinguishing: 11 HR-ASD, 15 HR-language delay and 15 HR-no delay. Fewer HR-ASD infants produced grasp types facilitating spoon use at 24 months and functional actions at 10 months than HR-no delay. Production of functional actions in HR infants at 10 months predicted word comprehension at 12 months and word production at 24 and 36 months.

Attention to novelty versus repetition: Contrasting habituation profiles in Autism and Williams syndrome

BACKGROUND

Abnormalities in habituation have been documented in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS). Such abnormalities have been proposed to underlie the distinctive social and non-social difficulties that define ASD, including sensory features and repetitive behaviours, and the distinctive social phenotype characterizing WS.

METHODS

We measured habituation in 39 preschoolers with ASD, 20 peers with WS and 19 typically developing (TD) children using an eye-tracking protocol that measured participants' duration of attention in response to a repeating stimulus and a novel stimulus presented side by side across multiple trials.

RESULTS

Participants in the TD group and the WS group decreased their attention toward the repeating stimulus and increased their attention to the novel stimulus over time. Conversely, the ASD group showed a similar attentional response to the novel and repeating stimuli. Habituation was correlated with social functioning in the WS but not in the ASD group. Contrary to predictions, slower habituation in ASD was associated with lower severity of repetitive behaviours.

CONCLUSIONS

Habituation appears to be intact in WS and impaired in ASD. More research is needed to clarify the nature of the syndrome-specific patterns of correlations between habituation and social and non-social functioning in these neurodevelopmental disorders.

Outcome for Children Receiving the Early Start Denver Model Before and After 48 Months

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is an intervention program recommended for pre-schoolers with autism ages 12-48 months. The rationale for this recommendation is the potential for intervention to affect developmental trajectories during early sensitive periods. We investigated outcomes of 32 children aged 18-48 months and 28 children aged 48-62 months receiving the ESDM for one year (approximately 20 h per week). Younger children achieved superior verbal DQ gains compared to their older counterparts. There were no group differences with respect to non-verbal DQ and adaptive behavior (with both age-groups undergoing significant change), or ASD severity (with neither age-group showing improvements on the ADOS). The association between verbal DQ gains and age at intake was moderated by baseline verbal level.

Neural mechanisms of vocal imitation: The role of sleep replay in shaping mirror neurons

Learning by imitation involves not only perceiving another individual's action to copy it, but also the formation of a memory trace in order to gradually establish a correspondence between the sensory and motor codes, which represent this action through sensorimotor experience. Memory and sensorimotor processes are closely intertwined. Mirror neurons, which fire both when the same action is performed or perceived, have received considerable attention in the context of imitation. An influential view of memory processes considers that the consolidation of newly acquired information or skills involves an active offline reprocessing of memories during sleep within the neuronal networks that were initially used for encoding. Here, we review the recent advances in the field of mirror neurons and offline processes in the songbird. We further propose a theoretical framework that could establish the neurobiological foundations of sensorimotor learning by imitation. We propose that the reactivation of neuronal assemblies during offline periods contributes to the integration of sensory feedback information and the establishment of sensorimotor mirroring activity at the neuronal level.

Verbal labels increase the salience of novel objects for preschoolers with typical development and Williams syndrome, but not in autism

BACKGROUND

Early research has documented that young children show an increased interest toward objects that are verbally labeled by an adult, compared to objects that are presented without a label. It is unclear whether the same phenomenon occurs in neurodevelopmental disorders affecting social development, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS).

METHODS

The present study used a novel eye-tracking paradigm to determine whether hearing a verbal label increases the salience of novel objects in 35 preschoolers with ASD, 18 preschoolers with WS, and 20 typically developing peers.

RESULTS

We found that typically developing children and those with WS, but not those with ASD, spent significantly more time looking at objects that are verbally labeled by an adult, compared to objects that are presented without a label.

CONCLUSIONS

In children without ASD, information accompanied by the speaker's verbal label is accorded a "special status," and it is more likely to be attended to. In contrast, children with ASD do not appear to attribute a special salience to labeled objects compared to non-labeled objects. This result is consistent with the notion that reduced responsivity to pedagogical cues hinders social learning in young children with ASD.

Autism, attachment, and social learning: Three challenges and a way forward

We explore three challenges that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) poses to our understanding of the processes underlying early attachment. First, while caregiver-infant attachment and later social-affiliative behavior share common biobehavioral mechanisms, individuals with ASD are able to form secure attachment relationships, despite reduced social-emotional reciprocity and motivation for social interaction. Therefore, disruptions in social affiliation mechanisms can co-exist with secure caregiver-infant bonding. Second, while early attachment quality is associated with later social outcomes in typical development, interventions targeting caregiver-child interaction in ASD often show positive effects on parental responsivity and attachment quality, but not on child social behavior. Therefore, improvements in parent-child bonding do not necessarily result in improvements in social functioning in ASD. Third, individuals with ASD show normative brain activity and selective social affiliative behaviors in response to people that they know but not to unfamiliar people. We propose a conceptual framework to reformulate and address these three theoretical impasses posed by ASD, arguing that the dissociable pathways of child-parent bonding and social development in ASD are shaped by (1) a dissociation between externally-driven and internally-driven attachment responses and (2) atypical learning dynamics occurring during child-caregiver bonding episodes, which are governed by and influence social-affiliation motives and other operant contingencies.

Social affiliation motives modulate spontaneous learning in Williams syndrome but not in autism

Background

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with Williams syndrome (WS) have difficulties with learning, though the nature of these remains unclear.

Methods

In this study, we used novel eye-tracking and behavioral paradigms to measure how 36 preschoolers with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched peers with WS attend to and learn novel behaviors (1) from the outcomes of their own actions (non-social learning), (2) through imitation of others’ actions (social learning), and across situations in which imitative learning served either an instrumental function or fulfilled social affiliation motives.

Results

The two groups demonstrated similar abilities to learn from the consequences of their own actions and to imitate new actions that were instrumental to the achievement of a tangible goal. Children with WS, unlike those with ASD, increased their attention and imitative learning performance when the model acted in a socially engaging manner.

Conclusions

Learning abnormalities in ASD appear to be linked to the social rather than instrumental dimensions of learning.

Others' emotions teach, but not in autism: an eye-tracking pupillometry study

BACKGROUND

Much research has investigated deficit in emotional reactivity to others in people with autism, but scant attention has been paid to how this deficit affects their own reactions to features of their environment (objects, events, practices, etc.). The present study presents a preliminary analysis on whether calibrating one's own emotional reactions to others' emotional reactions about features of the world, a process we term social-emotional calibration, is disrupted in autism.

METHODS

To examine this process, we used a novel eye-tracking pupillometry paradigm in which we showed 20 preschoolers with autism and 20 matched typically developing preschoolers' videos of an actor opening a box and reacting to the occluded object inside, with fear or happiness. We expected preschoolers to come to perceive the box as containing a positive or threatening stimulus through emotionally calibrating to the actor's emotional expressions. Children's mean pupil diameter (indicating emotional reactivity) was measured whilst viewing an up-close, visually identical image of the box before and then after the scene, and this difference was taken as an index of social-emotional calibration and compared between groups.

RESULTS

Whilst the typically developing preschoolers responded more emotionally to the box after, compared to before the scene (as indexed by an increase in pupil size), those with autism did not, suggesting their reaction to the object was not affected by the actor's emotional expressions. The groups did not differ in looking duration to the emotional expressions; thus, the pupil dilation findings cannot be explained by differences in visual attention. More social-emotional calibration on the happy condition was associated with less severe autism symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Through the measurement of physiological reactivity, findings suggest social-emotional calibration is diminished in children with autism, with calibration to others' positive emotions as particularly important. This study highlights a possible mechanism by which individuals with autism develop idiosyncratic reactions to features of their environment, which is likely to impact their active and harmonious participation on social and cultural practices from infancy, throughout the lifespan. More research is needed to examine the mediators and developmental sequence of this tendency to emotionally calibrate to others' feelings about the world.

Mirror Neurons and Mirror-Touch Synesthesia

Since mirror neurons were introduced to the neuroscientific community more than 20 years ago, they have become an elegant and intuitive account for different cognitive mechanisms (e.g., empathy, goal understanding) and conditions (e.g., autism spectrum disorders). Recently, mirror neurons were suggested to be the mechanism underlying a specific type of synesthesia. Mirror-touch synesthesia is a phenomenon in which individuals experience somatosensory sensations when seeing someone else being touched. Appealing as it is, careful delineation is required when applying this mechanism. Using the mirror-touch synesthesia case, we put forward theoretical and methodological issues that should be addressed before relying on the mirror-neurons account.

Walk like me, talk like me. The connection between mirror neurons and autism spectrum disorder

Understanding social cognition has become a hallmark in deciphering autism spectrum disorder. Neurobiological theories are taking precedence in causation studies as researchers look to abnormalities in brain development as the cause of deficits in social behavior, cognitive processes, and language. Following their discovery in the 1990s, mirror neurons have become a dominant theory for that the mirror neuron system may play a critical role in the pathophysiology of various symptoms of autism. Over the decades, the theory has evolved from the suggestion of a broken mirror neuron system to impairments in mirror neuron circuitry. The mirror neuron system has not gained total support due to inconsistent findings; a comprehensive analysis of the growing body of research could shed light on the benefits, or the disadvantage of continuing to study mirror neurons and their connection to autism.

Children With Autism Show Reduced Information Seeking When Learning New Tasks

Information-seeking behaviours occur when children look to adults in order to gain further information about a novel stimulus/situation. The current study investigated information seeking in children with developmental delays (DD) and those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) during a simulated teaching situation. Twenty preschool-aged children with ASD and 15 children with DD were exposed to a series of videos where a teacher provided novel instructions and demonstrated novel actions. We found that children with DD, but not those with ASD, demonstrated information-seeking behaviours in response to instructions that exceeded their level of understanding. This suggests that children with DD may use information-seeking behaviours to compensate for their cognitive and language difficulties when novel actions are being taught, while the same is not true for children with ASD.

Assessing human mirror activity with EEG mu rhythm: A meta-analysis

A fundamental issue in cognitive neuroscience is how the brain encodes others' actions and intentions. In recent years, a potential advance in our knowledge on this issue is the discovery of mirror neurons in the motor cortex of the nonhuman primate. These neurons fire to both execution and observation of specific types of actions. Researchers use this evidence to fuel investigations of a human mirror system, suggesting a common neural code for perceptual and motor processes. Among the methods used for inferring mirror system activity in humans are changes in a particular frequency band in the electroencephalogram (EEG) called the mu rhythm. Mu frequency appears to decrease in amplitude (reflecting cortical activity) during both action execution and action observation. The current meta-analysis reviewed 85 studies (1,707 participants) of mu that infer human mirror system activity. Results demonstrated significant effect sizes for mu during execution (Cohen's d = 0.46, N = 701) as well as observation of action (Cohen's d = 0.31, N = 1,508), confirming a mirroring property in the EEG. A number of moderators were examined to determine the specificity of these effects. We frame these meta-analytic findings within the current discussion about the development and functions of a human mirror system, and conclude that changes in EEG mu activity provide a valid means for the study of human neural mirroring. Suggestions for improving the experimental and methodological approaches in using mu to study the human mirror system are offered.

Evidence for the Implementation of the Early Start Denver Model for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

BACKGROUND

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is a manualized comprehensive therapy for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. It emphasizes interpersonal engagement through synchrony, rhythms, and reciprocity to decrease symptom severity and accelerate cognitive, social-emotional, and language development.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically review evidence regarding the use of the ESDM as an intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder.

DESIGN

PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and CINAHL were searched from 2010-2015 using predetermined inclusion criteria. Study methodology, participant characteristics, and outcomes were evaluated and quality of evidence was assigned.

RESULTS

Eight articles met inclusion criteria and consisted of two randomized controlled trials, four controlled trials, and two observational cohort studies. Evidence quality ranged from low to high.

CONCLUSIONS

The ESDM is an effective intervention that improves cognition, language, and adaptive behavior. ESDM strategies delivered in community group settings and in the home by parents have potential to be efficacious and feasible.

Body maps in the infant brain

Researchers have examined representations of the body in the adult brain but relatively little attention has been paid to ontogenetic aspects of neural body maps in human infants. Novel applications of methods for recording brain activity in infants are delineating cortical body maps in the first months of life. Body maps may facilitate infants' registration of similarities between self and other - an ability that is foundational to developing social cognition. Alterations in interpersonal aspects of body representations might also contribute to social deficits in certain neurodevelopmental disorders.

Mechanisms of imitation impairment in autism spectrum disorder

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have difficulties with imitation, though the nature of these remains unclear. In this study, involving 28 preschoolers with ASD (M age = 48 months; 90 % male), 17 matched children with Global Developmental Delay (GDD group; M age = 44 months; 53 % male) and 17 typically developing children (TD group, M age = 52 months; 65 % male), we found that preschoolers with ASD 1) imitate less frequently than both typically developing children and children with GDD; 2) when they do imitate, their imitation is less accurate than that of TD children but similar to that of children with GDD; 3) unlike participants in both comparison groups, preschoolers with ASD use emulation more often than imitation when copying others' actions; 4) they spend less time looking at the model's face and more time looking at her actions; and 5) attentional, social and executive factors underlie different aspects of imitation difficulties in this population. Implications for developmental models of autism are discussed.

Implicit learning in individuals with autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by social communication difficulties and behavioural rigidity. Difficulties in learning from others are one of the most devastating features of this group of conditions. Nevertheless, the nature of learning difficulties in ASDs is still unclear. Given the relevance of implicit learning for social and communicative functioning, a link has been hypothesized between ASDs and implicit learning deficit. However, studies that have employed formal testing of implicit learning in ASDs provided mixed results.

METHOD

We undertook a systematic search of studies that examined implicit learning in ASDs using serial reaction time (SRT), alternating serial reaction time (ASRT), pursuit rotor (PR), and contextual cueing (CC) tasks, and synthesized the data using meta-analysis. A total of 11 studies were identified, representing data from 407 individuals with ASDs and typically developing comparison participants.

RESULTS

The results indicate that individuals with ASDs do not differ in any task considered [SRT and ASRT task: standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.71 to 0.36; PR task: SMD -0.34, 95% CI -1.04 to 0.36; CC task: SMD 0.27, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.60].

CONCLUSIONS

Based on our synthesis of the existing literature, we conclude that individuals with ASDs can learn implicitly, supporting the hypothesis that implicit learning deficits do not represent a core feature in ASDs.

Peer-mediated theatrical engagement for improving reciprocal social interaction in autism spectrum disorder

The hallmark characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is poor reciprocal social communication. Interventions designed to improve this core deficit are critically needed. Social skills interventions such as direct training, peer mediation, and video modeling have contributed to improvements in various social skills in children with ASD. This paper reviews existing social competence interventions available for children with ASD while highlighting hypothesized critical components for advancing, maintaining, and generalizing skills, which include (1) peer mediation, (2) active learning, and (3) implementation in supportive, natural contexts. As a framework for these approaches, this conceptual paper describes SENSE Theatre, a novel intervention that combines trained peers that facilitate the performance-based theatrical treatment delivered in a supportive, community-based environment. A review of previous research shows early feasibility, setting the stage for more rigorous studies to aid in developing a standardized intervention package.