Build-up of Action Representation in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Summary

Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) are highly debilitating developmental syndromes which core feature is social and communications disorders. Motor skill impairments are frequently described in autism, but few studies have addressed the question of their origin and their specificity. Furthermore, it is not clear whether motor problems encountered in autism are related to dyspraxia, or if they present with specific features. This project aims at deciphering the origin of motor problems encountered by children who grow-up with autism in order to propose early interventions that could influence the other developmental trajectories, such as the social one.

Brain dynamics during sensori-motor learning is explored by applying magnetoencephalography (MEG) during the Bimanual Load-Lifting paradigm. Different motor processes namely: proprioceptive monitoring, use and update of a sensori-motor representation, anticipatory executive control will be correlated to brain oscillation modulation, both topographically and temporally. Two groups of children (aged between 7 and 12) are compared: a group of children with ASD and a control group of typically developing children.

Conditions

• Healthy
• Autism Spectrum Disorder

Interventions

OTHER

Behavioral assessments

Kinematics measures, concomitant to Magnetoencephalography (MEG, measures oscillatory rhythms in the brain) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI, used to provide an anatomical image of each participant's brain to be coregistered with oscillatory measurements) recordings, enable to track sensori-motor learning based on performance, and oscillatory changes (with high temporal and spatial resolution).

OTHER

Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Kinematics measures, concomitant to Magnetoencephalography (MEG, measures oscillatory rhythms in the brain) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI, used to provide an anatomical image of each participant's brain to be coregistered with oscillatory measurements) recordings, enable to track sensori-motor learning based on performance, and oscillatory changes (with high temporal and spatial resolution).

OTHER

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Kinematics measures, concomitant to Magnetoencephalography (MEG, measures oscillatory rhythms in the brain) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI, used to provide an anatomical image of each participant's brain to be coregistered with oscillatory measurements) recordings, enable to track sensori-motor learning based on performance, and oscillatory changes (with high temporal and spatial resolution).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hospices Civils de Lyon

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sandrine SONIE, MD · CH le Vinatier

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-04-10

Primary Completion

2018-12-31

Completion

2018-12-31

Countries

• France

Study Locations