Differences in functional brain organization during gesture recognition between autistic and neurotypical individuals

Abstract

Persons with and without autism process sensory information differently. Differences in sensory processing are directly relevant to social functioning and communicative abilities, which are known to be hampered in persons with autism. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 25 autistic individuals and 25 neurotypical individuals while they performed a silent gesture recognition task. We exploited brain network topology, a holistic quantification of how networks within the brain are organized to provide new insights into how visual communicative signals are processed in autistic and neurotypical individuals. Performing graph theoretical analysis, we calculated two network properties of the action observation network: local efficiency, as a measure of network segregation, and global efficiency, as a measure of network integration. We found that persons with autism and neurotypical persons differ in how the action observation network is organized. Persons with autism utilize a more clustered, local-processing-oriented network configuration (i.e., higher local efficiency), rather than the more integrative network organization seen in neurotypicals (i.e., higher global efficiency). These results shed new light on the complex interplay between social and sensory processing in autism.

Disrupted cognitive and affective empathy network interactions in autistic children viewing social animation

“…Previous studies of TD children have indicated that neural networks can be positively coupled (for integration or cooperative activity, measuring ‘global efficiency’) or negatively coupled (resulting in functional segregation, measuring ‘local efficiency’) ( Trujillo et al ., 2022 ; Maliske et al ., 2023 ). As is shown in Figure 2A , the connection across networks was weaker than the mean connectivity strength within both cognitive and AE networks, which would confer segregation.…”

“…higher local efficiency) rather than the more integrative network organization seen in neurotypicals (i.e. higher global efficiency) ( Wadhera and Kakkar, 2021 ; Trujillo et al ., 2022 ), further representing that empathy network with short functional reach might be a compensation mechanism for processing empathy information in ASC, thus showing that weaker integration between empathic sub-networks is associated with better empathic ability. These results shed new light on the complex interplay between cognitive and AE processing in autism.…”

Product Design for the Elderly Based on Human-Computer Interaction in the Era of Big Data

“…And other key issues that need to be solved urgently in the field of elderly care and medical care [6]. Nursing bed control system and human-computer interactive elderly nursing bed gesture recognition system [7]. Foreign gesture recognition technology developed earlier [8].…”