No abstract

One of the subjects being discussed by the professional community currently is the role possibly played by the mirror neuron system (MNS) in the violation of social behavior of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The MNS is known to shape the perception of emotions of others and understanding and imitation of their actions. Mu rhythm desynchronization in EEG is considered to be the indicator of the MNS activation. The purpose of this study was to identify the features of reactivity of the EEG mu rhythm within an individually determined frequency range in preschoolers with ASD in situations requiring instrumental, emotional and altruistic helping behavior (HB). The study involved children 4–7 years old with ASD (n = 26) and their normally developing peers without the condition (n = 37). Although in most cases, HB was more pronounced in the group of normally developing children, the differences between the groups are significant only for altruistic HP (p < 0.01), and for the situation requiring complex altruistic and emotional HP it approaches significance (p = 0.09). Evaluation of the mu rhythm reactivity indices showed that the tasks invoking complex altruistic and emotional HB bring this indicator down significantly in children with ASD compared to the group of normally developing participants, as shown by the central leads of the left and right hemispheres and the parietal lead of the right hemisphere (C3: p = 0.02 ; C4: p = 0.03; P4: p = 0.03). It is assumed that the detected features stem from the impaired functioning of the MNS and the downstream regulation to the MNS from prefrontal cortex and other areas of the neocortex. The data obtained can be used in development of EEG biofeedback training protocols for children with ASD.

The paper surveys the behavior and psychophysiological responses (electroencephalographic power modulations of the alpha and beta rhythms) in 16 boys and 33 girls aged from 1.5 to 3.5 years when they were distributing reward tokens (carton cookies) among the toy characters who previously demonstrated proand antisocial behavior (rendering help and causing harm, respectively). The individual way of distributing the reward was translated into a moral evaluation index (MEI) for each child. When children were distributing the reward tokens, an increase in power, relative to the baseline, was registered for theta rhythm in the prefrontal, frontal and occipital cortex regions, and for beta rhythm in the temporal and occipital regions. Besides, those children who tended to give a bigger reward to the good-acting toy character (i.e., having higher MEI) showed a significantly greater increase in beta rhythm power compared to the children with lower MEI. The reason for that might be that children with higher MEI engage their cognitive resources into making socially significant decisions more effectively and adequately process emotionally significant information.

Среди заболеваний нервной системы главной причиной детской инвалидности является детский церебральный паралич [1, 2]. В Российской Федерации распространенность зарегистрированных случаев ДЦП составляет 2,2-3,3 случая на 1 000 новорожденных [3]. В современной литературе ДЦП характеризуют как группу непрогрессирующих синдромов, широко варьирующих по этиологии, манифестации клинических проявлений, их тяжести и прогнозу, обусловленных нарушением развития или повреждением двигательных центров головного мозга ребенка в антенатальном, интранатальном или неонатальном пе

Kak bylo pokazano ranee, seansy nejroreabilitacii s primeneniem neinvazivnogo interfejsa «mozg–komp'yuter–ekzoskelet kisti» snizhayut u detej s detskim cerebral'nym paralichom (DCP) spastichnost' myshc kisti i uluchshayut dvigatel'nye navyki. Odnako izmenenie rechevyh funkcij pacientov i ih svyaz' s podvizhnost'yu verhnih konechnostej ne analizirovali. Cel'yu issledovaniya bylo proanalizirovat' svyaz' mezhdu dvigatel'nymi i rechevymi funkciyami detej s DCP, a takzhe vyyavit' izmeneniya motornoj realizacii vyskazyvaniya u pacientov v rezul'tate kompleksnogo lecheniya, vklyuchayushchego seansy nejroreabilitacii. V issledovanii prinyali uchastie deti s DCP v vozraste 6–15 let. Osnovnaya gruppa (n = 40, 16 devochek, 24 mal'chika) prohodila kompleksnoe sanatorno-kurortnoe lechenie s kursom nejroreabilitacii, a gruppa sravneniya (n = 20, 10 devochek, 10 mal'chikov) — standartnoe sanatorno-kurortnoe lechenie. Vyyavlena statisticheski znachimaya (r < 0,001) vzaimosvyaz' mezhdu velichinoj summarnogo pokazatelya shkaly «Vozmozhnosti kisti — deti» («ABILHANDKids») i pokazatelyami motornoj realizacii vyskazyvaniya. Kompleksnaya terapiya s kursom nejroreabilitacii privela u pacientov osnovnoj gruppy k statisticheski znachimym izmeneniyam (r < 0,001): snizheniyu spastichnosti kistej ruk, rostu summarnogo pokazatelya «ABILHANDKids» i pokazatelej rechi. U detej gruppy sravneniya statisticheski znachimyh izmenenij dannyh pokazatelej ne vyyavleno. Osnovoj pozitivnyh effektov nejroreabilitacii mozhet byt' usilenie plastichnosti nejronnyh cepej, kontroliruyushchih vypolnenie slozhnyh dvizhenij ruk, a takzhe rechevye processy. Poluchennye dannye mogut byt' ispol'zovany pri razrabotke novyh metodov korrekcii dvigatel'noj i kognitivnoj sfery detej s DCP.