Motor Skill Learning in Autism

自闭症运动技能学习

• 批准号: 8305494
• 负责人: Stewart H Mostofsky
• 金额: $ 39.59万
• 依托单位: HUGO W. MOSER RES INST KENNEDY KRIEGER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2014-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8305494
• 关键词: Anatomy; Anisotropy; Apraxias; Autistic Disorder; Axon; Base of the Brain; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Brain imaging; Brain region; Child; Communication; Development; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Disease; Distant; Feedback; Foundations; Funding; Goals; Hand; Image; Image Analysis; Impairment; Individual; Lead; Learning; Link; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Measures; Methods; Modeling; Motor; Motor Cortex; Motor Skills; Parietal Lobe; Pattern; Performance; Plant Roots; Process; Property; Proprioception; Reliance; Research; Research Personnel; Robotics; Social Development; Socialization; Somatosensory Cortex; Testing; Therapeutic; Visual; Work; association cortex; base; behavioral impairment; clinically relevant; design; developmental disease; effective therapy; imaging modality; improved; infancy; insight; motor impairment; motor learning; motor skill learning; neuroimaging; novel; programs; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; sensory feedback; sequence learning; skill acquisition; skills; social; social skills; somatosensory; tool; visual feedback; white matter

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Differences in procedural (skill-based) learning may be highly relevant to autism, with several investigators positing that impaired development of social and communicative skills may be linked to anomalous formation of action models beginning early in infancy. Consistent with this idea, there is increasing evidence that autism is associated with anomalous motor development, including impaired imitation and execution of goal-directed actions ("dyspraxia"). During the initial funding period we therefore began a research program focused on studying procedural learning at a level of detail best achieved through careful examination of motor learning. Our studies led to a critical observation: there is a fundamental difference in how children with autism learn motor skills: they build a stronger than normal association between motor commands and intrinsic proprioceptive feedback and a weaker than normal association between the same commands and extrinsic visual feedback. The findings not only help explain impaired skill development in autism, they may also explain why individuals with autism develop a bias toward their own "inner world" and struggle to understand and interpret the meaning of others' social and communicative actions. This excessive reliance on proprioceptive feedback to guide motor learning may have its roots in the wiring of the brain: imaging and post-mortem studies have revealed an over-expression of short-range axons, including those connecting neighboring primary motor cortex and somatosensory cortex, where proprioception is encoded. Our imaging findings from the initial funding period provide preliminary support for this hypothesis, revealing motor skill impairment in autism is associated with increased volume and paradoxically decreased organization of short-range white matter connectivity in primary sensorimotor cortex and decreased functional connectivity between distant brain regions. Clearly, questions remain regarding the clinical relevance and neural basis of the stronger than normal association between motor commands and proprioceptive feedback in autism and whether a change in this bias can be achieved, providing an effective method of treating impaired skill acquisition. Consequently, we propose to: confirm that children with autism show a bias towards proprioceptive-guided motor learning and determine whether this is associated with the core social, communicative, and motor skill deficits that define the disorder (Aim 1); use both structural (Aim 2) and functional (Aim 3) MRI methods to examine the neural basis of autism-associated alterations in motor learning; and working toward a treatment, determine whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can help children with autism develop internal models of behavior that are better at predicting external visual consequences, as is important for guiding socialization and communication (Aim 4). The proposed studies will establish a foundation for using advanced methods of motor and imaging analysis to examine the brain basis of autism, and, most critically, for designing and testing novel methods of treatment. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Children with autism have particular difficulty with development of social and communicative skills, as well as motor skills. Skill development depends on "procedural learning" mechanisms that are best examined through careful study of motor skill learning, a process that also appears to be important for learning how to understand the meaning of other people's actions. The purpose of this research is to identify the brain mechanisms in autism that contribute to impaired acquisition of motor skills, and by extension social skills, and to identify methods for improving how children with autism learn these skills.

描述（由申请人提供）：程序性（基于技能的）学习的差异可能与自闭症高度相关，一些研究人员认为，社交和沟通技能的发展受损可能与婴儿期早期开始的行为模式的异常形成有关。与这一观点相一致的是，越来越多的证据表明自闭症与运动发育异常有关，包括模仿和执行目标导向行为受损（“运动障碍”）。因此，在最初的资助期间，我们开始了一项研究计划，重点研究程序性学习，其详细程度最好通过仔细检查运动学习来实现。我们的研究得出了一个批判性的观察：自闭症儿童学习运动技能的方式存在根本差异：他们在运动命令和内在本体感觉反馈之间建立了比正常更强的关联，而在相同命令和外在视觉反馈之间建立了比正常更弱的关联。这些发现不仅有助于解释自闭症患者的技能发展受损，还可以解释为什么自闭症患者会对自己的“内心世界”产生偏见，并难以理解和解释他人社交和交流行为的含义。这种过度依赖本体感觉反馈来指导运动学习的根源可能在于大脑的布线：成像和尸检研究揭示了短程轴突的过度表达，包括连接邻近初级运动皮层和体感皮层的轴突，本体感觉被编码的地方。我们在最初资助期间的成像结果为这一假设提供了初步支持，揭示了自闭症的运动技能障碍与初级感觉运动皮层中短程白质连接的体积增加和矛盾性减少以及远处大脑区域之间的功能连接减少有关。显然，关于自闭症运动命令和本体感觉反馈之间比正常关联更强的临床相关性和神经基础以及是否可以实现这种偏差的改变，提供治疗技能习得受损的有效方法，仍然存在疑问。因此，我们建议：确认自闭症儿童表现出对本体感受引导的运动学习的偏见，并确定这是否与定义该障碍的核心社交、沟通和运动技能缺陷有关（目标 1）；使用结构（目标 2）和功能（目标 3）MRI 方法来检查与自闭症相关的运动学习改变的神经基础；并致力于治疗，确定经颅直流电刺激 (tDCS) 是否可以帮助自闭症儿童发展内部行为模型，更好地预测外部视觉后果，这对于指导社交和沟通很重要（目标 4）。拟议的研究将为使用先进的运动和成像分析方法来检查自闭症的大脑基础奠定基础，最重要的是，为设计和测试新的治疗方法奠定基础。 公共卫生相关性：自闭症儿童在社交和沟通技能以及运动技能的发展方面特别困难。技能发展取决于“程序性学习”机制，最好通过仔细研究运动技能学习来检验这种机制，这个过程对于学习如何理解他人行为的含义似乎也很重要。这项研究的目的是确定自闭症患者的大脑机制，这些机制会导致运动技能和社交技能的获得受损，并确定改善自闭症儿童学习这些技能的方法。

项目成果

Dyspraxia in ASD: Impaired coordination of movement elements.

• DOI: 10.1002/aur.1693
• 发表时间: 2017-04
• 期刊: Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research
• 作者: McAuliffe D;Pillai AS;Tiedemann A;Mostofsky SH;Ewen JB
• 通讯作者: Ewen JB

Altered task-related modulation of long-range connectivity in children with autism.

• DOI: 10.1002/aur.1858
• 发表时间: 2018-03
• 期刊: Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research
• 作者: Pillai AS;McAuliffe D;Lakshmanan BM;Mostofsky SH;Crone NE;Ewen JB
• 通讯作者: Ewen JB

Cerebellar gray matter and lobular volumes correlate with core autism symptoms.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.02.007
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL
• 影响因子: 4.2
• 作者: DMello, Anila M.;Crocetti, Deana;Mostofsky, Stewart H.;Stoodley, Catherine J.
• 通讯作者: Stoodley, Catherine J.

Neural Correlates of Visuomotor Learning in Autism.

• DOI: 10.1177/0883073815600869
• 发表时间: 2015-12
• 期刊: Journal of child neurology
• 影响因子: 1.9
• 作者: Sharer E;Crocetti D;Muschelli J;Barber AD;Nebel MB;Caffo BS;Pekar JJ;Mostofsky SH
• 通讯作者: Mostofsky SH

The Role of Attention in Somatosensory Processing: A Multi-trait, Multi-method Analysis.

注意力在体感处理中的作用：多特征、多方法分析。

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-016-2866-6
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: Journal of autism and developmental disorders
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Wodka,ErickaL;Puts,NicolaasAJ;Mahone,EMark;Edden,RichardAE;Tommerdahl,Mark;Mostofsky,StewartH
• 通讯作者: Mostofsky,StewartH