SENSORIMOTOR INTEGRATION IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

自闭症是一种神经发育障碍，其特征是广泛和持久的跨多个领域的缺陷，具有高度异质性的认知特征，其异常或超常的能力与注意力和语言等认知领域的严重障碍并存。此外，自闭症的特点是智商、语言能力和注意力能力在个体之间存在很大差异，对其神经基础了解甚少。虽然社会认知中的行为缺陷受到了大力关注，但人们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。行为和神经解剖学证据表明，运动和认知发展是内在联系的。众所周知，运动缺陷存在于各种认知发育障碍中，如注意缺陷多动障碍。小脑和纹状体等辅助运动功能的大脑结构的损伤也会导致高级认知功能的中断。这些 运动控制结构不仅在解剖学上与代表高级认知的前额叶皮质密切相关，而且与前额叶皮质平行发育。因此，对运动控制的检查可以阐明自闭症患者的认知功能障碍。在目前的提案中，我们对自闭症采取了认知神经科学的分析方法，将重点放在行动和认知的“积木”上，即有助于锻炼的核心组成部分过程。 认知控制可以从行为和神经生物学的角度进行操作定义。辅助动作控制的组件过程包括视觉运动整合、反应抑制和反应竞争的解决。这些成分对于所有更高级的功能都是必不可少的，无论是认知功能还是社交功能。这个项目的主要目标是使用结构和功能磁共振程序来阐明7-12岁自闭症儿童视觉运动处理、感觉运动整合和执行功能的神经生物学基础。

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.