Brain activations during execution and observation of visually guided sequential manual movements in autism and in typical development: A study protocol

Motor issues are frequently observed accompanying core deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Impaired motor behavior has also been linked to cognitive and social abnormalities, and problems with predictive ability have been suggested to play an important, possibly shared, part across all these domains. Brain imaging of sensory-motor behavior is a promising method for characterizing the neurobiological foundation for this proposed key trait. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) developmental study, involving children/youth with ASD, typically developing (TD) children/youth, and neurotypical adults, will investigate brain activations during execution and observation of a visually guided, goal-directed sequential (two-step) manual task. Neural processing related to both execution and observation of the task, as well as activation patterns during the preparation stage before execution/observation will be investigated. Main regions of interest include frontoparietal and occipitotemporal cortical areas, the human mirror neuron system (MNS), and the cerebellum.