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Motor Learning in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Activation in Superior Parietal Lobule Related to Learning and Repetitive Behaviors
Author(s) -
Travers Brittany G.,
Kana Rajesh K.,
Klinger Laura G.,
Klein Christopher L.,
Klinger Mark R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
autism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.656
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1939-3806
pISSN - 1939-3792
DOI - 10.1002/aur.1403
Subject(s) - serial reaction time , psychology , autism spectrum disorder , superior parietal lobule , precuneus , functional magnetic resonance imaging , intraparietal sulcus , supramarginal gyrus , neuroscience , inferior parietal lobule , motor learning , autism , supplementary motor area , postcentral gyrus , sequence learning , audiology , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , medicine
Motor‐linked implicit learning is the learning of a sequence of movements without conscious awareness. Although motor symptoms are frequently reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ), recent behavioral studies have suggested that motor‐linked implicit learning may be intact in ASD . The serial reaction time ( SRT ) task is one of the most common measures of motor‐linked implicit learning. The present study used a 3 T functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner to examine the behavioral and neural correlates of real‐time motor sequence learning in adolescents and adults with ASD ( n = 15) compared with age‐ and intelligence quotient‐matched individuals with typical development ( n = 15) during an SRT task. Behavioral results suggested less robust motor sequence learning in individuals with ASD . Group differences in brain activation suggested that individuals with ASD , relative to individuals with typical development, showed decreased activation in the right superior parietal lobule ( SPL ) and right precuneus ( B rodmann areas 5 and 7, and extending into the intraparietal sulcus) during learning. Activation in these areas (and in areas such as the right putamen and right supramarginal gyrus) was found to be significantly related to behavioral learning in this task. Additionally, individuals with ASD who had more severe repetitive behavior/restricted interest symptoms demonstrated greater decreased activation in these regions during motor learning. In conjunction, these results suggest that the SPL may play an important role in motor learning and repetitive behavior in individuals with ASD . Autism Res 2015, 8: 38–51 . © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.