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Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
09:13

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Published on: April 22, 2015

On the relationship between mouth opening and "broken mirror neurons" in autistic individuals

P B Pascolo1, A Cattarinussi

  • 1University of Udine, Industrial Bioengineering Lab, Udine, Italy. bioing@uniud.it

Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology : Official Journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology
|November 2, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Mylohyoid muscle (MH) activation timing does not reliably distinguish typical developing (TD) children from autistic (ASD) individuals. Food distance significantly impacts MH timing, challenging previous mirror neuron system (MNS) deficit hypotheses in ASD.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Biomedical Engineering

Background:

  • Previous research suggested deficits in action organization in autistic (ASD) individuals, hypothesizing a
  • broken
  • mirror neuron system (MNS).
  • Electromyography (EMG) of the mylohyoid muscle (MH) during eating actions was used to study motor control differences.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the reliability of mylohyoid muscle (MH) activation timing in differentiating typical developing (TD) children from autistic (ASD) individuals.
  • To explore the influence of factors like food distance on MH activation timing during goal-oriented actions.
  • To re-evaluate the hypothesis of a dysfunctional MNS in ASD based on motor execution timing.

Main Methods:

  • Electromyographies (EMG) were recorded from the mylohyoid muscle (MH) in TD and ASD children.
  • Participants performed the goal-oriented action of
  • grasping to eat
  • .
  • Analysis focused on the temporal relationship between mouth opening and MH muscle activation, considering food distance and external perturbations.

Main Results:

  • Mylohyoid muscle (MH) activation timing was not a reliable differentiator between TD and ASD children.
  • The distance between the food and the participant significantly affected MH activation timing.
  • Preliminary data suggested external perturbations may also influence MH activation timing.

Conclusions:

  • The findings do not provide sufficient evidence to support a link between ASD and a dysfunctional mirror neuron system (MNS).
  • Careful interpretation of experimental data, considering factors like food distance, is crucial before developing interventions for ASD.
  • Further research is warranted to explore the impact of external perturbations on motor control in ASD.

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