Hand-foot coordination is significantly influenced by motion direction in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Generally, when individuals attempt to move two limbs rhythmically in the opposite direction (e.g., flex the left hand and extend the left foot along the sagittal plane), the movements tend to be instead performed in the same direction.

Enhanced use of gaze cue in a face-following task after brief trial experience in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Eye movements toward sequentially presented face images with or without gaze cues were recorded to investigate whether those with ASD, in comparison to their typically developing (TD) peers, could prospectively perform the task according to gaze cues. Line-drawn face images were sequentially presented for one second each on a laptop PC display, and the face images shifted from side-to-side and up-and-down. In the gaze cue condition, the gaze of the face image was directed to the position where the next face would be presented.

State anxiety modulates the effect of emotion cues on visual temporal sensitivity in autism spectrum disorder.

Atypical processing of stimulus inputs across a range of sensory modalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is widely reported. Sensory processing is known to be influenced by bodily internal states such as physiological arousal and anxiety. As a sizeable proportion of ASD reportedly have co-morbid anxiety disorders that are linked with dysregulated arousal, we investigated if face emotion arousal cues influenced visual sensory sensitivity (indexed by temporal resolution) in ASD (n = 20) compared to a matched group of typically developed individuals (TD, n = 21).

Decreased utilization of allocentric coordinates during reaching movement in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Despite numerous reports of abnormalities in limb motor controls in spatial orientation in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated. We studied the influence of allocentric coordinates on ongoing reaching movements, which has been reported to strongly affect the reaching movements of typically developing (TD) individuals. ASD and TD participants observed a target presented randomly on one of the four corners of a frame on a screen.

GABA Concentration in the Left Ventral Premotor Cortex Associates With Sensory Hyper-Responsiveness in Autism Spectrum Disorders Without Intellectual Disability.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit abnormal processing of sensory inputs from multiple modalities and higher-order cognitive/behavioral response to those inputs. Several lines of evidence suggest that altered γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, is a central characteristic of the neurophysiology of ASD. The relationship between GABA in particular brain regions and atypical sensory processing in ASD is poorly understood.

Neural Basis of Extremely High Temporal Sensitivity: Insights From a Patient With Autism.

The human brain is sensitive to incoming sensory information across multiple time scales. Temporal scales of information represented in the brain generally constrain behavior. Despite reports of the neural correlates of millisecond timing, how the human brain processes sensory stimuli in the sub-second range (≤100 ms) and its behavioral implications are areas of active scientific inquiry.

Cutaneous and stick rabbit illusions in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Prediction is the process by which future events are anticipated based on past events; in contrast, postdiction is the retrospective interpretation of past events based on latter, more recent events. The prediction and postdiction are suggested to be similar based on theoretical models. Previous studies suggest that prediction is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Altered GABA Concentration in Brain Motor Area Is Associated with the Severity of Motor Disabilities in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Several motor disabilities accompanied with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are widely known despite limited reports of underlying neural mechanisms. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the motor-related cortical areas modulate several motor performances in healthy participants. We hypothesized that abnormal GABA concentrations in the primary motor area (M1) and supplementary motor area (SMA) associate with different motor difficulties for ASD adolescents/adults.

Action performance in children with autism spectrum disorder at preschool age: a pilot study.

Motor deficits related to imitation have been observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. This pilot investigation focused on motor performances, including daily tool-use actions, performing an action in the absence of the tool, and imitating (copying tool-use action presented visually), in eight children with ASD and eight children with typical development (TD), with all of pre-school age (4-6 years). Motor performances were compared between the children with ASD and TD.

Older Adolescents and Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder Have Difficulty Chaining Motor Acts When Performing Prehension Movements Compared to Typically Developing Peers.

It is known that motor actions performed by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are clumsy and a previous study revealed that children with ASD of around 8 years old showed less smooth movement and dysfunction of appropriate usage of online vision for grip aperture control. The present study investigates whether and how the kinematic properties of reach-to-grasp movements in older adolescents and adults with ASD [mean (±SD) age: 18.3 ± 2.

Higher Tactile Temporal Resolution as a Basis of Hypersensitivity in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have symptoms of sensory hypersensitivity. Several studies have shown high individual variations in temporal processing of tactile stimuli. We hypothesized that these individual differences are linked to differences in hyper-reactivity among individuals with ASD.

Perceptions regarding a range of work-related issues and corresponding support needs of individuals with an intractable disease.

A number of persons with an intractable disease (ID) experience work-related problems that could lead to job loss. The aim of this study was to ascertain perceptions regarding a range of work-related issues and corresponding support needs of individuals with an ID. Potential participants were people ages 15 to 64 with one of the 130 intractable chronic diseases designated in the Act to Comprehensively Support the Daily and Social Activities of Persons with Disabilities (Comprehensive Support for the Disabled Act).

An autopsy case of frontotemporal lobar degeneration with the appearance of fused in sarcoma inclusions (basophilic inclusion body disease) clinically presenting corticobasal syndrome.

We describe an autopsy case of basophilic inclusion body disease (BIBD), a subtype of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) with the appearance of fused in sarcoma (FUS) inclusions (FTLD-FUS), clinically presenting corticobasal syndrome (CBS). A 54-year-old man initially developed worsening of stuttering and right hand clumsiness. Neurological examinations revealed rigidity in the right upper and lower extremities, buccofacial apraxia, and right-side dominant limb-kinetic and ideomotor apraxia.

Neural basis of the retrieval of people's names: evidence from brain-damaged patients and fMRI.

The aim of this study was to identify the neuroanatomical basis of the retrieval of people's names. Lesion data showed that patients with language-dominant temporal lobectomy had impairments in their ability to retrieve familiar and newly learned people's names, whereas patients with language-nondominant temporal lobectomy had difficulty retrieving newly learned people's names. Functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments revealed activations in the left temporal polar region during the retrieval of familiar and newly learned people's names, and in the right superior temporal and bilateral prefrontal cortices during the retrieval of newly learned information from face cues.

The role of the basal forebrain in episodic memory retrieval: a positron emission tomography study.

Human lesion data indicate that the basal forebrain or orbitofrontal cortex, or both, as well as medial temporal and diencephalic structures, is important for normal memory and that its disruption causes the pure amnesic syndrome, in which episodic memory is grossly impaired while other kinds of memory remain preserved. Among these critical areas, functional imaging studies have so far failed to detect activation of the basal forebrain, although activation in the nearby orbitofrontal cortex has been reported during episodic memory retrieval. We employed positron emission tomography to elucidate the neural basis of episodic memory recall utilizing two types of time cues and successfully detected activity in the basal forebrain for the first time.