Action Perception, Motor Imagery and Execution of Hand Movements in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults

Abstract

Action perception, execution, and imagery share motor-cognitive processes. Given prevalent motor coordination difficulties in autism, the processes of action perception and imagery may also be altered. This study investigated whether autistic adults can engage in motor imagery by testing differences in executing, perceiving, and imagining hand movements between autistic and non-autistic adults. Twenty autistic individuals and twenty age- and IQ-matched controls completed execution, imagination, and perception tasks using a Fitts’ Law paradigm in an online session. For the execution and imagination tasks, participants performed or imagined making aiming movements between two targets. For the action perception task, participants indicated whether they could perform as accurately as the movements in presented videos. Target size and distance were manipulated into three difficulty levels and systematically varied across all tasks. Results showed a similar Fitts’ Law relationship for both groups, with significant positive correlations between movement times and difficulty level. Movement times were longest in the imagination task and shortest in the perception task for both groups. These findings suggest motor imagery processes are relatively intact in autistic adults, opening the possibility of using motor imagery as a therapy for motor coordination difficulties in autistic individuals.