Broken Mirrors: A Theory of Autism

Ramachandran, Vilayanur S.; Oberman, Lindsay M.

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1106-62

Cited by 271 publications

(114 citation statements)

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“…Hence, the hypothesis that a core symptom of autism, the inability to relate to people in an ordinary way (10)(11)(12), depends on a malfunctioning of the mirror neuron system (13)(14)(15). Anatomical investigations (16,17) and evidence coming from neurophysiological [electroencephalogram, magnetoencephalogram, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)] and brain imaging studies support this view (18)(19)(20)(21).…”

mentioning

confidence: 69%

Impairment of actions chains in autism and its possible role in intention understanding

Cattaneo

Fabbri-Destro

Boria

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

405

310

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Experiments in monkeys demonstrated that many parietal and premotor neurons coding a specific motor act (e.g., grasping) show a markedly different activation when this act is part of actions that have different goals (e.g., grasping for eating vs. grasping for placing). Many of these ''action-constrained'' neurons have mirror properties firing selectively to the observation of the initial motor act of the actions to which they belong motorically. By activating a specific action chain from its very outset, this mechanism allows the observers to have an internal copy of the whole action before its execution, thus enabling them to understand directly the agent's intention. Using electromyographic recordings, we show that a similar chained organization exists in typically developing children, whereas it is impaired in children with autism. We propose that, as a consequence of this functional impairment, high-functioning autistic children may understand the intentions of others cognitively but lack the mechanism for understanding them experientially.mirror neurons ͉ motor chains ͉ motor acts ͉ goal understanding ͉ motor intention H umans and monkeys possess a neural system, called the mirror neuron system, that maps visual descriptions of actions done by others onto the observer's motor representations of the same actions (1). In humans, the mirror neuron system has two major components. One is formed by the inferior parietal lobule and the ventral premotor cortex plus the caudal part of Broca's area, the other by the insula and anterior cingulate gyrus (1, 2).The mirror neuron system does not possess a unique function. Besides its originally proposed role in action understanding, its parieto-frontal component appears to mediate the understanding of intentions of others (3) and imitation (4-7), whereas its insular-cingulate component appears to play a fundamental role in emotion recognition (2,8).Recent data obtained in the monkey revealed that the mirror neuron mechanism underlying intention understanding relies on the activation of a specific set of ''action-constrained'' parietal neurons (9). These neurons discharge in association with specific motor acts but become maximally activated when the coded motor act is embedded into a specific motor action. Thus, for example, action-constrained grasping neurons strongly discharge when grasping a piece of food is followed by bringing it to the mouth, but not when it is followed by placing it into a container. Most interestingly, many action-constrained neurons have mirror properties. These neurons selectively discharge when the observation of motor acts is part of a given action (e.g., grasping for eating but not grasping for placing) (9). Their activation provides, therefore, information on the fact that an individual is grasping, but most importantly also gives clues on why the individual is doing it. Through this mechanism the observer, besides recognizing the observed motor act, is also able to predict what will be the final goal of the action. In other words, the ob...

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mentioning

confidence: 69%

Impairment of actions chains in autism and its possible role in intention understanding

Cattaneo

Fabbri-Destro

Boria

et al. 2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

405

310

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The mechanism of this perception-to-action mapping has been posited in mirror neurons, a type of sensorimotor neuron 7 responsive both when a specific action is carried out and when the same action type is perceived visually or acoustically (Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2010). Neural activity attributable to mirror neurons in premotor and motor cortex is abnormally low in ASC (Bernier, Dawson, Webb, & Murias, 2007;Cattaneo et al, 2007;Dapretto et al, 2006;Honaga et al, 2010;McCleery et al, 2013;Nishitani, Avikainen, & Hari, 2004;Oberman et al, 2005;Rizzolatti & Fabbri-Destro, 2010;Theoret et al, 2005;Wadsworth et al, 2017), 8 and therefore was interpreted as support for proposals that the autistic phenotype results from the dysfunction of mirror neuron systems (the 'broken mirrors' hypothesis: Ramachandran & Oberman, 2006).…”

Section: The Neuroanatomical Correlates Of Movement Impairmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Klin et al (2003) emphasised the grounding of social and cognitive processes in sensorimotor experience and suggested that this differed in autism, but did not strongly highlight the neurobiological architecture necessary for this 'grounding' or 'embodiment', nor base their account on neurobiological evidence from ASC. A putative neurobiological substrate for embodied cognition and autistic symptoms was introduced in the original 'broken mirrors' hypothesis (Ramachandran & Oberman, 2006), which was later expanded by Rizzolatti and Fabbri-Destro (2010); these authors speak of impairments to mirror neuron systems, implying dysfunction of the link between perception and action. Mostofsky and Ewen (2011) characterize the core abnormality of ASC as an impairment in 'internal action models', reliant on sensorimotor circuits across posterior parietal and premotor regions for storage and sequencing, which they suggest play functional roles in intention-understanding, praxis, imitation and social communication e thus resulting in deficits in these domains in autism.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What can autism teach us about the role of sensorimotor systems in higher cognition? New clues from studies on language, action semantics, and abstract emotional concept processing

Moseley

Pulvermüller

2018

Cortex

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“…beneficial effects for individuals with autism spectrum disorders, who have been suggested to have deficits in mirror processing (Iacoboni and Dapretto, 2006;Ramachandran and Oberman, 2006). One possibility is that inducing interdependent selfconstrual in such individuals could make them more responsive to contextual social information emanating from other individuals.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Resonating with Others: The Effects of Self-Construal Type on Motor Cortical Output

Obhi¹,

Hogeveen²,

Pascual‐Leone³

2011

J. Neurosci.

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"Self-construal" refers to how individuals view and make meaning of the self, and at least two subtypes have been identified. Interdependent self-construal is a view of the self that includes relationships with others, and independent self-construal is a view of the self that does not include relations with others. It has been suggested that priming these two types of self-construal affects the cognitive processing style that an individual adopts, especially with regard to context sensitivity. Specifically, an interdependent self-construal is thought to promote attention to others and social context to a greater degree than an independent self-construal. To investigate this assertion, we elicited motor-evoked potentials with transcranial magnetic stimulation during an action observation task in which human participants were presented with either interdependent or independent self-construal prime words. Priming interdependent self-construal increased motor cortical output whereas priming independent self-construal did not, compared with a no-priming baseline condition. These effects, likely mediated by changes in the mirror system, essentially tune the individual to, or shield the individual from, social input. Interestingly, the pattern of these self-construal-induced changes in the motor system corroborates with previously observed selfconstrual effects on overt behavioral mimicry in social settings, and as such, our results provide strong evidence that motor resonance likely mediates nonconscious mimicry in social settings. Finally, these self-construal effects may lead to the development of interventions for disorders of deficient or excessive social influence, like certain autism spectrum and compulsive imitative disorders.

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Broken Mirrors: A Theory of Autism

Cited by 271 publications

References 0 publications

Impairment of actions chains in autism and its possible role in intention understanding

Impairment of actions chains in autism and its possible role in intention understanding

What can autism teach us about the role of sensorimotor systems in higher cognition? New clues from studies on language, action semantics, and abstract emotional concept processing

Resonating with Others: The Effects of Self-Construal Type on Motor Cortical Output

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