News -12-09-05 "Mirror Neurons" Associated with Communication Impairment (EDBlog) This study suggests that by practicing the imitation of social behaviors, symptoms of high functioning autism may be reduced by stimulating the part of the brain that has responded weakly to affective cues in the past. Asperger Syndrome has also been linked to reduced responses in the same part of the brain. "By studying differences in how their brains function during efforts to imitate emotions, Mirella Dapretto and colleagues have discovered that adolescents with high functioning autism (HFA) have no activity in the part of the brain that is employed in many important activities including imitation and language production. The HFA participants can mimic others’ facial expressions, but when they do so, the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars opercularis is not activated, although it is activated in non-disabled peers." "Notably, activity in this area [the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) pars opercularis] was inversely related to symptom severity in the social domain, suggesting that a dysfunctional ‘mirror neuron system’ may underlie the social deficits observed in [high-functioning] autism." "I think imitation is terribly critical in learning, making these findings really noteworthy. That the behavioral neurologists are coming up with these sorts of findings is very exciting. I wonder if we will soon see studies parallel to those in reading showing that promoting higher levels of imitation changes the fMRI results. Meanwhile, note that most of these studies are with HFA individuals." 12-05. -12-09-05 "Mirror Neurons" Associated with Communication Impairment (Scientific American) "More than one in 500 children have some form of autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control. All autistic children suffer from an impaired ability to communicate and relate to others, but some of them are able to socially interact to a greater degree than their peers. A recent study of a group of these so-called high functioning autistics suggests the neurological basis for their social impairment." "Neuroscientist Mirella Dapretto of the University of California Los Angeles and her colleagues surveyed the brains of 10 autistic children and an equal number of nonautistic children as they watched and imitated 80 different faces displaying either anger, fear, happiness, sadness or no emotion." "The autistic children differed from their peers in only one respect: each showed reduced activity in the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus--a brain region located near the temple." 12-05. Papers Asperger's Syndrome and the Mirror-Neuron System (American Psychological Association) "A new type of neuron--called a mirror neuron--could help explain how we learn through mimicry and why we empathize with others." 12-05. Asperger's Syndrome and the Mirror-Neuron System (American Psychological Association) "New research suggests that a malfunctioning mirror-neuron system could be behind the social isolation of autism." "Imitation appears to be the primary function of mirror neurons. People without working mirror neurons would need to analyze a movement before attempting to copy it, while those with a working mirror system can do so automatically. In line with this theory, a decade of research has shown that people with autism tend to have difficulty imitating others, especially when those movements are complex, says Tager-Flusberg." 12-05. Asperger's Syndrome and the Mirror-Neuron System (American Psychological Association) "New research suggests that a malfunctioning mirror-neuron system could be behind the social isolation of autism." "Imitation appears to be the primary function of mirror neurons. People without working mirror neurons would need to analyze a movement before attempting to copy it, while those with a working mirror system can do so automatically. In line with this theory, a decade of research has shown that people with autism tend to have difficulty imitating others, especially when those movements are complex, says Tager-Flusberg." 12-05. Mirror Neurons Associated with Viewing Behaviors (American Psychological Association) "Then Greenfield learned that researchers had found mirror neurons--nerve cells that fire when primates not only produce a goal-directed action but also watch someone else produce the same action--for manual actions (such as grasping) in the F5 brain area in monkeys, a Broca's homologue, and in Broca's area in humans." 12-05.

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