Summary: Children with the autism spectrum do not always process body movements properly, especially if they are distracted by something else.
Source: University of Rochester
Realizing and understanding what it means when a person leans in a conversation or takes a step back and crosses their arms is a vital part of human communication.
Researchers at the Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester have found that children with autism spectrum disorder do not always process body movements effectively, especially if they are distracted by something else.
“Being able to read and respond to someone’s body language is important in our daily interactions with others,” said Emily Knight, MD, Ph.D., clinical and postdoctoral researcher in Pediatrics and Neuroscience, is the first author of the recently published study. in Molecular Autism.
“Our results suggest that when children with autism are distracted by something else, their brain processes another person’s movements differently than their peers.”
Key differences in brain processes
Using the electroencephalogram (EEG), the researchers recorded the brain waves of children with and without autism while watching videos of moving points that were ready to look like a person.
In these videos, the dots move to represent actions such as running, kicking, or jumping, and are sometimes rotated in different directions or shuffled to stop moving like a person. Children aged six to 16 were asked to focus on the color of the dots or if they were moving as a person.
The researchers found that the brain waves of children with autism were not processed when the dots moved as a person if they were focused on the color of the dot.
“If your brain is processing less body movements, you may have more difficulty understanding other people and need to pay more attention to body language to see it,” Knight said. “Knowing this can help guide new ways to support people with autism.”
The researchers found that the brain waves of children with autism were not processed when the dots moved as a person if they were focused on the color of the dot. The image is in the public domain
“This is further evidence of how the brain of a person with autism is processing the world around them,” said John Foxe, Ph.D., lead author of the study.
“This research is a vital step in creating a more inclusive space for people with autism, giving an insight into how their brain processes an unspoken part of communication.”
Other authors include Ed Freedman, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center, John Butler, Ph.D., Aaron Krakowski, and Sophie Molholm, Ph.D., of Einstein College of Medicine. This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Center for Research on Intellectual Disabilities and Development at the University of Rochester (UR-IDDRC) and the Center for Research on Intellectual Disabilities and of Development Rose F. Kennedy (RFK-IDDRC).
About this research news about autism
Author: Kelsie Smith HaydukSource: University of RochesterContact: Kelsie Smith Hayduk – University of RochesterImage: Image is in the public domain
Original search: open access. “Attentional influences on neuronal processing of biological movement in children with typical development and those with autism spectrum” by John Foxe et al. Molecular Autism
See also
Summary
Influences of attention on neuronal processing of biological movement in children with typical development and those with the spectrum of autism
Fund
Biological movement imparts a wealth of information related to the movement, actions, intentions, and affective state of others, which can provide fundamental support for various aspects of social cognition and behavior. Since atypical social communication and cognition are characteristic symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), many have theorized that a potential source of this deficit may be in the dysfunctional neural mechanisms of biological movement processing. The synthesis of the existing literature provides some support for biological movement processing deficits in the autism spectrum disorder, although the high heterogeneity of the study and inconsistent findings complicate interpretation. Here, we have attempted to reconcile part of this residual controversy by investigating a possible role of attention modulator in the processing of biological movement in ASD.
Methods
We used high-density electroencephalographic recordings while participants observed point visualizations of vertical, inverted, and shuffled biological movement under two task conditions to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of intentional and unintentional biological movement processing in children and adolescents with ASD (n = 27), comparing them. to a control cohort of neurotypical participants (NT) (n = 35).
Results
Behaviorally, participants with ASD were able to discriminate biological movement with similar accuracy to NT controls. However, electrophysiological research revealed a reduced automatic selective processing of vertical biological stimuli versus TEA-stirred movement stimuli relative to NT individuals, which improved when task demands required explicit attention to biological movement. In addition, we observed distinctive patterns of covariance between visual potentials evoked by biological movement and functional social capacity, so Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-Socialization domain scores were associated differently with biological movement processing in the period N1 in the ASD but not the NT group.
Limitations
The cross-sectional design of this study does not allow us to definitively answer the question of whether developmental differences in attention to biological movement cause interruptions in social communication, and the sample was limited to children with average or higher cognitive ability.
Conclusions
Taken together, these data suggest that individuals with ASD are able to discriminate, with explicit attention, biological movement from non-biological, but demonstrate decreased automatic neuronal specificity for biological movement processing, which may have cascading implications for development. of higher order social cognition.