Autism, Emotion Recognition and the Mirror Neuron System: The Case of Music

Abstract

Understanding emotions is fundamental to our ability to navigate and thrive in a complex world of human social interaction. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are known to experience difficulties with the communication and understanding of emotion, such as the nonverbal expression of emotion and the interpretation of emotions of others from facial expressions and body language. These deficits often lead to loneliness and isolation from peers, and social withdrawal from the environment in general. In the case of music however, there is evidence to suggest that individuals with ASD do not have difficulties recognizing simple emotions. In addition, individuals with ASD have been found to show normal and even superior abilities with specific aspects of music processing, and often show strong preferences towards music. It is possible these varying abilities with different types of expressive communication may be related to a neural system referred to as the mirror neuron system (MNS), which has been proposed as deficient in individuals with autism. Music’s power to stimulate emotions and intensify our social experiences might activate the MNS in individuals with ASD, and thus provide a neural foundation for music as an effective therapeutic tool. In this review, we present literature on the ontogeny of emotion processing in typical development and in individuals with ASD, with a focus on the case of music.

Reading point-light walkers and amorphous—A TMS study.

“…Further, many social interaction and communication disorders, such as autism, show reduced imitation skills (Molnar-Szakacs et al, 2009) and ability of translating actions plans from other’s perspectives to themselves (Whiten & Brown, 1998), likely due to dysfunction of the observation/execution system. In this sense, CE measured via MEPs may constitute a reliable biomarker to quantify motor engagement and learning through imitation (Celnik et al, 2006) but it is ultimately important to understand which aspects of the stimuli evoke M1 response.…”

Listener Features and the Identification of Emotion in Classical Music

“…Though ASD individuals may falter in responding to social cues and lack communication skills, they have a fundamental understanding of music shared with non-ASD individuals. This commonality suggests that the recognition of musical cues and musical meaning is fundamentally ingrained in human beings (Molnar-Szakacs et al, 2020).…”

A Droga, O Álcool E Seus Prejuízos

“…Thus, it is generally accepted that individuals with some form of ASD display at least some impairment in recognizing emotions through facial expressions (HARMS, MARTIN and WALLACE, 2010), although there are a host of inconsistent results (ENTICOTT et al, 2013). However, the automatic mirroring of affective gestures and expressions is also considerably weaker in infants with ASD and the differences in emotion processing between typically developing individuals and their peers with ASD are also observable at a neural level (MOLNAR-SZAKACS et al, 2009). It has been postulated and proven by neuroscientists that the inability of children with autism to relate to people and life situations in the ordinary way depends on a lack of a normally functioning mirror neuron system Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006).…”