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Neural correlates of coherent and biological motion perception in autism
Author(s) -
Koldewyn Kami,
Whitney David,
Rivera Susan M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01058.x
Subject(s) - autism , biological motion , psychology , superior temporal sulcus , dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , motion perception , perception , visual perception , motion (physics) , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , visual processing , audiology , prefrontal cortex , developmental psychology , cognition , medicine , artificial intelligence , computer science
Recent evidence suggests those with autism may be generally impaired in visual motion perception. To examine this, we investigated both coherent and biological motion processing in adolescents with autism employing both psychophysical and fMRI methods. Those with autism performed as well as matched controls during coherent motion perception but had significantly higher thresholds for biological motion perception. The autism group showed reduced posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (pSTS), parietal and frontal activity during a biological motion task while showing similar levels of activity in MT+/V5 during both coherent and biological motion trials. Activity in MT+/V5 was predictive of individual coherent motion thresholds in both groups. Activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and pSTS was predictive of biological motion thresholds in control participants but not in those with autism. Notably, however, activity in DLPFC was negatively related to autism symptom severity. These results suggest that impairments in higher‐order social or attentional networks may underlie visual motion deficits observed in autism.