A Data Driven Approach Reveals That Anomalous Motor System Connectivity is Associated With the Severity of Core Autism Symptoms.
Daniel E Lidstone, Rebecca Rochowiak, Stewart H Mostofsky and 1 others
PMID 33484109WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism showed weaker brain connectivity between the right posterior cerebellum and the left inferior parietal lobule.
This specific connectivity pattern correlated with more severe social deficits and repetitive behaviors, but showed no significant link to motor imitation or ball-catching scores.
Key findings
01Children with ASD showed weaker within-network connectivity in the right posterior cerebellum compared to typically developing children.
02In children with ASD, weaker connectivity between the right posterior cerebellum and the left inferior parietal lobule was associated with more severe social-communicative symptoms.
03No significant associations were found between right posterior cerebellum connectivity and performance on motor imitation or ball-catching tasks after correcting for multiple comparisons.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if the brain connectivity differences cause the symptoms or result from them. Brain connectivity measures did not correlate with motor performance tasks (imitation and ball catching), suggesting the tasks may not have been sensitive enough to detect the specific neural disruptions identified. Over half of the children with ASD were taking psychoactive medications, which could influence brain connectivity, although stimulant medications were withheld during scanning. The sample was limited to children aged 8 to 12 years, so findings may not apply to younger children or adults.
Declared interests
No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest are declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this brain connectivity pattern can be used to assess motor skills. The study found no significant link between the identified connectivity disruptions and the children's actual performance on motor imitation or ball-catching tasks.