Delayed Motor Learning in Autism

描述（由申请人提供）：成年人谁适应他们的手臂上产生的扰动力的机器人manipullater显示后效时，达到与机器人停用，但准确地移动，如果他们放开机器人。这表明，他们所学到的关于如何在抓住机器人操纵器时进行目标导向的伸展运动，产生一个运动相关的力，并不能在没有机器人的情况下进行伸展。这是一个例子，越来越多的证据表明，我们学习不同的预测策略来移动我们自己的手臂和移动外部物体，我们在适当的自我/物体背景下使用这些策略。我们最近的研究表明，在运动系统中，这种特定于情境的自我/客体区分是一种发展成就，出现在7岁左右的典型发育儿童中。我们的研究还表明，没有一个绝对成熟的时间表出现的特定于上下文的自我/对象的运动适应，因为它可以加速，如果提供适当的经验。此外，我们从一项对高功能自闭症（HFA）儿童的研究中获得了令人兴奋的初步结果，我们发现他们和典型的发育中的儿童一样有能力学习补偿令人不安的机器人操纵（物体），但在学习不将其带到自由接触（自我）环境中时有所延迟。我们的总体目标是证实这一初步发现，在儿童HFA和测试的假设，如何加快自我/对象的特定背景下的动态运动学习，在典型的发展中国家的儿童，以及在儿童HFA。该项目的成果将提供一个更好的理解特定背景下的动态运动适应的发展，在典型的发展中的儿童，更清楚地了解自闭症的运动缺陷，和治疗方法，以提高运动学习的儿童HFA -特别是学习与动态对象的互动。一个积极的结果也将开辟未来的途径，调查典型的和无序的发展，个人之间的运动相互作用。 公共卫生相关性：我们将调查儿童的能力，分别调整他们的神经运动控制，以解释他们自己的快速变化的身体和新的外部物体施加的力量。我们的研究将包括典型的发育中的儿童，患有自闭症的儿童。其结果将是更好地了解典型发育儿童的运动发育，更清楚地了解自闭症的运动缺陷，以及改善动态运动相互作用发展的潜在疗法。强有力的初步结果表明，积极的成果，这将打开一个未来的途径，调查典型的和无序的发展，个人之间的运动相互作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adults who adapt to a perturbing force on their arm produced by a robotic manipulandum later show aftereffects when reaching with the robot deactivated but move accurately if they let go of the robot. This shows that what they learn about how to make goal-directed reaching movements when grasping a robotic manipulandum generating a movement-contingent force does not carry over to reaching without the robot. This is one example of a growing body of evidence indicating that we learn distinct predictive strategies for moving our own arm and for moving external objects, and we use these strategies in an appropriate self/object context. We have recently shown that this context-specific self/object distinction within the motor system is a developmental achievement that appears at about seven years of age in typically developing children. Our studies also show that there is not an absolute maturational time table for the emergence of context-specific self/object motor adaptation because it can be accelerated if appropriate experience is provided. In addition, we have exciting preliminary results from a study of children with high functioning autism (HFA) in which we are finding that they are as capable as typically developing children of learning to compensate for a perturbing robotic manipulandum (object) but are delayed in learning not to carry this over to the free reaching (self) context. Our overall aims are to confirm this preliminary finding in children with HFA and to test a hypothesis about how to accelerate self/object context-specific dynamic motor learning in typically developing children as well as in children with HFA. The outcomes of this project will provide a better understanding of the development of context-specific dynamic motor adaptation in typically developing children, a clearer understanding of motor deficits in autism, and a therapeutic method for enhancing motor learning in children with HFA - especially learning to interact with dynamic objects. A positive outcome will also open future avenues for investigating typical and disordered development of motor interactions between individuals. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We will investigate children's capacity separately adjust their neuromotor control to account for their own rapidly changing bodies and for forces imposed by novel external objects. Our studies will include typically developing children, children with autism. The outcomes will be a better understanding of motor development in typically developing children, a clearer understanding of motor deficits in autism and a potential therapy for improving the development of dynamic motor interactions. Strong preliminary results indicate positive outcomes which will open a future avenue for investigating typical and disordered development of motor interactions between individuals.