Unique deficit in embodied simulation in autism: An fMRI study comparing autism and developmental coordination disorder.

ABSTRACT: A deficit in pre-cognitively mirroring other people's actions and experiences may be related to the social impairments observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear whether such embodied simulation deficits are unique to ASD or instead are related to motor impairment, which is commonly comorbid with ASD. Here we aim to disentangle how, neurologically, motor impairments contribute to simulation deficits and identify unique neural signatures of ASD. We compare children with ASD (N = 30) to children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD; N = 23) as well as a typically developing group (N = 33) during fMRI tasks in which children observe, imitate, and mentalize about other people's actions. Results indicate a unique neural signature in ASD: during action observatio

SUBMITTER: Kilroy E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7927289 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature