fMRI of Sensorimotor Integration In Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

孤独症是一种神经发育障碍，其特征在于跨越多个领域的广泛和持续的缺陷，具有高度异质性的认知特征，其显著特征在于与注意力和语言等认知领域中的显著损伤共存的备用或超常能力。此外，自闭症的特点是在智商，语言能力和注意力方面存在很大的个体差异，其神经基础也知之甚少。 虽然社会认知中的行为缺陷受到了极大的关注，但对大多数自闭症患者的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相关的。已知在各种认知发育障碍中观察到运动缺陷，例如注意缺陷多动障碍。对有助于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 运动控制结构不仅在解剖学上与前额叶皮层（高级认知的所在地）密切相关，而且与前额叶皮层平行发展。因此，检查运动控制可能阐明自闭症的认知功能障碍。 在目前的建议中，我们采取认知神经科学的分析方法，通过关注行动和认知的“积木”，即在锻炼中起作用的核心组成过程，来研究自闭症。 认知控制，可以在行为和神经生物学方面进行操作定义。有助于控制动作的组成过程包括视觉运动整合、反应抑制和反应竞争的解决。这些成分对于所有高级功能都是必不可少的，无论是认知功能还是社交功能。该项目的主要目标是使用结构和功能MRI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.