Autism and the Brain

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Autism and the Brain
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Hello

• Antonia Hamilton
• Lecturer researcher in Psychology from the
  University of Nottingham
• will give a general introduction
• Lauren Marsh
• research assistant from the University of
  Nottingham
• will talk about one research project
• Emma Gowen
• Lecturer researcher in Psychology from
  Manchester University
• will talk about autism research at Manchester

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What do cognitive psychologists do?

• How do we see, think, remember, feel, act?
• How does the brain work?

The brain
see hear touch
perform actions

• Why do different people do things differently?

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How do we study the mind?

• Use computer tasks see a picture, press a
  button. How fast are you?
• Use memory tasks see a list of words, which
  ones do you remember?
• Use action tasks how do you move your hands?
• Use eye movement tasks which parts of a
  picture do you look at?
• and more

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How do we study the brain?

• fMRI brain scanners let us see which 'brain
  areas' are active for different tasks

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Why do psychologists study autism?

• People with autism have a different way of
  understanding the world and interacting with the
  world
• We want to know how why
• So what do we know already?

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Differences in social tasks

• People with autism often have trouble in social
  situations
• They may learn clever ways to compensate for this

Neurotypicals look at the eyes Autistic people
look at the mouth
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Skills in autism

• Some people with autism are exceptionally good at
  drawing or maths or music
• Many are good at seeing things in detail

Does this triangle appear in this picture?
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The brain in autism

• We dont know much
• Brain looks the same
• Subtle differences in brain activity

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Research questions

• Why do autistic people find some social tasks so
  difficult?
• How can neurotypicals learn to see in detail like
  autistic people?
• Which parts of the brain are different in autism
  and why?
• What else do you want to know?

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Lauren MarshMirrors in the brain
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The mirror system

• A set of brain regions which respond when you
• perform an action
• see someone else acting
• imitate an action
• understand an action
• Goals are critical for understanding

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Mirroring for social interaction

• Some researchers suggest that the mirror system
  is essential for social interaction
• mirror systems let us imitate
• they may contribute to language
• and empathy
• and other social skills

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What is the broken mirror?
The mirror system might be abnormal in autism
because

• children with autism dont imitate people much
• some of the functions of the mirror system
  overlap with the difficulties seen in autism
• language can develop slowly in children with
  autism

However, there is very little good evidence to
support this claim.
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Studying the mirror system in autism

• Children with autism imitating goals
• Goals in the brain

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Study 1 Goal directed imitation

• 3-6 year olds imitate goals not means
• Revealed by hand errors on cross-body trials
• Good imitation on all other trials
• Do children with ASD show the same pattern of
  errors?
• Test 26 children with ASD and 25 typical children

Bekkering, et al, 2000 Gattis et al, 2002
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Goal directed imitation
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Goal directed imitation
4
asd
typically developing
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hand errors
0
same side
cross body
both sides

• Both groups replicate Bekkering et al
• No problems with goals in children with ASD

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Conclusions from study 1

• Children with autism can imitate goals when
  explicitly asked to do so
• This suggests they do NOT have a broken mirror
  system
• This means that children with autism can learn
  through imitation, but we need to explicitly ask
  them to imitate us

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Study 2 Goals in the brain

• What is happening in the brain in autism?

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Typical mirror system

• Average brain activity of 20 undergraduate
  students

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Outcomes from study 2

• Does the mirror neuron system respond in the same
  way in people with autism?
• If YES it is not broken. The theory is wrong.
• If NO maybe it is broken. How can we fix it?

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Recruiting!

• We are currently looking for people aged 18-55
  with a diagnosis of autism, ASD or Aspergers to
  take part.
• For more information, please contact me
• lauren.marsh_at_nottingham.ac.uk
• 0115 846 7920
• www.AutismResearchNottingham.org

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Emma Gowen

• University of Manchester

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Sensory experiences

• Sensory experiences
• Superior perceptual performance
• Visual search
• Hypersensitivity

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Sensory integration

• Altered sensory integration?

NEW RESULTS IN!!! Our results indicate that
people with ASD combine sensory stimuli even when
at different locations e.g. they over-integrate
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Motor difficulties

• Coordination of movements
• Clumsiness
• Balance, eye hand coordination
• Altered sensory-motor integration?

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Imitation copying someone else
Sensory Information (visual)
Motor system (controls movement)
Action performed
Sensory-motor integration is important for
imitation
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Manchester Study

• Imitation task how is imitation different in
  ASD?
• Motion and eye tracking study

• Volunteers needed
• Formal diagnosis of high-functioning autism or
  Asperger syndrome
• 18-45 years old
• Generally healthy
• Travel costs covered plus 20 for taking part

Contact Kelly Wild (0161 306 0470) Kelly.wild_at_man
chester.ac.uk
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Questions?

• What research would you like to see?
• What do you need to know?
• How can research help you?
• Ask a question
• Come to our stand and ask
• Send us an email

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Which is simpler?
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Not everything is different!

• People can guess other people's wealth / status
  from a picture
• People with autism can do this too