Magnetoencephalogrphic (MEG) Studies of Atypical Cortical Connectivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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The project aims to develop an innovative Neuro-VR toolbox for autism intervention and represents a novel collaboration between the School of Life & Health Sciences (LHS) and the School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS), bringing together Professor K Kessler's (LHS) expertise in social neuroscience, neuroscience in virtual reality and autism research and Dr U Bernardet's (SEAS) expertise in Virtual Human software technology for non-verbal social interaction, reflexive behaviour architecture and modelling of social-spatial behaviour. The project was co-designed with the named candidate, Cliona Kelly.The aim is to develop Virtual Humans toolbox for simple, non-verbal social interactions to enable assessment of autistic deficits in behavioural and electrophysiological responses to non-verbal behaviour, leading to novel intervention technology in the long run. Initial experiments manipulating facial expressions, gaze and proxemic behaviour of VR avatars will be largely based on previous behavioural research by Bailenson et al. (2003) with neurotypical participants and on Wang et al (2017) with autistic participants. However, in this project, responses will only be assessed through overt behaviour (e.g. participants' gaze, facial expression and proxemic responses) but also through electrophysiological recordings of brain (EEG), heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin conductance (GSR). In a second innovative stage, participant multimodal responses will be used to drive Virtual Human behaviour in a closed-loop control system, providing a novel approach for long-term behavioural modification. While research and interventions with VR are being trialled in autism and other mental disorders (e.g. Wang et al., 2017), our team at Aston will be first to integrate electrophysiologial measures with a complex dynamic control system for realistic Virtual Humans and implement a closed-loop system for behavioural modification in autism. Targetting non-verbal behaviours enables interventions with individuals with reduced communicative abilities, while higher-functioning individuals will benefit from positive knock-on effects on verbal communication. Recruitment of autistic participants will use our established links with special needs schools. The proposed project will further our understanding of behavioural and neural abberrations in autism, generate novel technology for enhanced realism of Virtual Humans that will benefit a variety of VR projects, and provide proof-of-concept for novel intervention technology using closed-loop Neuro-VR systems. In the long term, this toolbox could be extended to other conditions and disorders such as ADHD, Depression, Bi-polar Disorder, OCD, Schizophrenia, Dementia, etc.