Movement kinematics and cortical activation in children with and without autism spectrum disorder during sway
Wan-Chun Su1,2, McKenzie Culotta1,2, Daisuke Tsuzuki3
1Department of Physical Therapy, University of Delaware, 540 South College Avenue, Newark, DE, USA.
Insights
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit distinct movement patterns and reduced brain activity during social synchrony tasks. These findings offer potential biomarkers for evaluating interventions in ASD.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often struggle with social interaction and imitation.
- Difficulties in socially embedded movements like interpersonal synchrony (IPS) are noted in ASD, but underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare movement characteristics and cortical activation in children with and without ASD during a sway synchrony task.
- To investigate how varying levels of social information affect movement and neural responses in ASD.
Main Methods:
- Thirty children with and without ASD participated, performing whole-body sway synchrony tasks.
- Movement kinematics and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured cortical activation during solo and interactive swaying.
- Social cues included observation, solo swaying, and face-to-face swaying with/without fingertip touch.
Main Results:
- Children with ASD demonstrated reduced synchrony and sway amplitude compared to controls.
- Reduced cortical activation in the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus was observed in children with ASD during IPS.
- Children with ASD did not show increased cortical activation with enhanced social information.
Conclusions:
- Movement and neural differences in ASD are linked to interpersonal synchrony (IPS) performance and social communication skills.
- Identified neurobiomarkers in ASD may serve as objective measures for intervention efficacy.
- This research highlights objective movement and neural correlates of social interaction challenges in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Abstract:
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have difficulties with socially embedded movements such as imitation and interpersonal synchrony (IPS); however, related movement characteristics and underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood. This study compared the movement characteristics and cortical activation patterns of children with and without ASD during a whole-body, sway synchrony task when different levels of social information were provided. Thirty children with and without ASD (mean age: 12.6 years, SE: 0.6 years) participated. Movement kinematics and fNIRS-based cortical activation were recorded when the child observed an adult tester sway side to side, when they swayed solo, or when they swayed face to face with the tester with or without fingertips touching (i.e., IPS). Children with ASD showed reduced synchrony and smaller sway amplitude compared to typically developing children without ASD. They showed reduced cortical activation over the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal sulcus during IPS and did not show significant increase in cortical activation when more social information was provided. The cortical activation findings were significantly associated with IPS behaviors and social communication performance. The ASD-related neurobiomarkers identified in our study could be used as objective measures to evaluate intervention effects in children with ASD.
