SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

自闭症是一种神经发育障碍，其特征是跨越多个领域的普遍和持续的缺陷，具有高度异质性的认知特征，其显著特征是在注意力和语言等认知领域中存在着严重的缺陷，同时存在着超常或超常的能力。此外，自闭症的特点是在智商、语言能力和注意力能力方面存在很大的个体间差异，人们对其神经基础知之甚少。虽然社会认知方面的行为缺陷受到了广泛的关注，但对大多数自闭症患者行动计划和执行障碍的机制知之甚少。行为和神经解剖学的证据表明，运动和认知的发展是内在相关的。众所周知，在各种认知发育障碍中都观察到运动缺陷，例如注意缺陷多动障碍。对控制运动功能的大脑结构，如小脑和纹状体的损伤，也会导致高级认知功能的中断。这些

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by pervasive and persistent deficits spanning multiple domains, with a highly heterogeneous cognitive profile that is remarkable for spared or supranormal abilities coexisting with dramatic impairments in cognitive domains such as attention and language. In addition, autism is characterized by large inter-individual differences in IQ, linguistic abilities, and attentional abilities and its neural bases are poorly understood. While the behavioral deficits in social cognition have received vigorous attention, less is known about the mechanisms responsible for the disorders of action planning and execution seen in most individuals with autism. Behavioral and neuroanatomical evidence indicates that motor and cognitive development are intrinsically related. It is known that motor deficits are observed in a variety of developmental disorders of cognition, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Damage to brain structures that subserve motor functions, such as cerebellum and striatum, also leads to disruptions of higher cognitive functions. These motor control structures are not only closely linked anatomically to prefrontal cortex, the seat of higher cognition, but also develop in parallel with prefrontal cortex. Therefore, examination of motor control may elucidate cognitive dysfunction in autism. In the present proposal we take a cognitive neuroscience analytic approach to autism by focusing on the "building blocks" of action and cognition, that is, the core component processes instrumental in exercising cognitive control that can be operationally defined in terms of behavior and neurobiology. The component processes that subserve control of action include visuomotor integration, response inhibition, and resolution of response competition. These components are essential for all higher functions, be they cognitive or social. The primary goal of this project is to use structural and functional MRI procedures to elucidate the neurobiological basis of visual motion processing, sensorimotor integration, and executive function in children ages 7-12 with autism.