Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School, Monash University Melbourne, VIC, Australia ; Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University Clayton, VIC, Australia.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 May 23;7:218. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00218. eCollection 2013.
The mirror neuron hypothesis of autism is highly controversial, in part because there are conflicting reports as to whether putative indices of mirror system activity are actually deficient in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recent evidence suggests that a typical putative mirror system response may be seen in people with an ASD when there is a degree of social relevance to the visual stimuli used to elicit that response. Individuals with ASD (n = 32) and matched neurotypical controls (n = 32) completed a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiment in which the left primary motor cortex (M1) was stimulated during the observation of static hands, individual (i.e., one person) hand actions, and interactive (i.e., two person) hand actions. Motor-evoked potentials (MEP) were recorded from the contralateral first dorsal interosseous, and used to generate an index of interpersonal motor resonance (IMR; a putative measure of mirror system activity) during action observation. There was no difference between ASD and NT groups in the level of IMR during the observation of these actions. These findings provide evidence against a global mirror system deficit in ASD, and this evidence appears to extend beyond stimuli that have social relevance. Attentional and visual processing influences may be important for understanding the apparent role of IMR in the pathophysiology of ASD.
自闭症的镜像神经元假说颇具争议性，部分原因是关于假定的镜像系统活动指标实际上是否在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中存在缺陷存在相互矛盾的报告。最近的证据表明，当用于引发这种反应的视觉刺激具有一定的社交相关性时，自闭症患者可能会出现典型的假定镜像系统反应。32 名自闭症患者（n=32）和 32 名匹配的神经典型对照组（n=32）完成了一项经颅磁刺激（TMS）实验，在该实验中，在观察静态手、个体（即一个人）手部动作和互动（即两个人）手部动作期间刺激左侧初级运动皮层（M1）。从对侧第一背间骨间肌记录运动诱发电位（MEP），并用于在动作观察期间生成人际运动共鸣（IMR；镜像系统活动的假定测量指标）的指数。在观察这些动作时，ASD 组和 NT 组的 IMR 水平没有差异。这些发现为 ASD 中存在全局镜像系统缺陷提供了证据，并且这种证据似乎超出了具有社交相关性的刺激。注意力和视觉处理的影响对于理解 IMR 在 ASD 病理生理学中的明显作用可能很重要。
