Autism: the micro-movement perspective

Frontiers Integrated Neuroscience 7 (32) (2013)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The current assessment of behaviors in the inventories to diagnose autism spectrum disorders (ASD) focus on observation and discrete categorizations. Behaviors require movements, yet measurements of physical movements are seldom included. Their inclusion however, could provide an objective characterization of behavior to help unveil interactions between the peripheral and the central nervous systems. Such interactions are critical for the development and maintenance of spontaneous autonomy, self-regulation and voluntary control. At present, current approaches cannot deal with the heterogeneous, dynamic and stochastic nature of development. Accordingly, they leave no avenues for real-time or longitudinal assessments of change in a coping system continuously adapting and developing compensatory mechanisms. We offer a new unifying statistical framework to reveal re-afferent kinesthetic features of the individual with ASD. The new methodology is based on the non-stationary stochastic patterns of minute fluctuations (micro-movements) inherent to our natural actions. Such patterns of behavioral variability provide re-entrant sensory feedback contributing to the autonomous regulation and coordination of the motor output. From an early age, this feedback supports centrally driven volitional control and fluid, flexible transitions between intentional and spontaneous behaviors. We show that in ASD there is a disruption in the maturation of this form of proprioception. Despite this disturbance, each individual has unique adaptive compensatory capabilities that we can unveil and exploit to evoke faster and more accurate decisions. Measuring the kinesthetic re-afference in tandem with stimuli variations we can detect changes in their micro-movements indicative of a more predictive and reliable kinesthetic percept. Our methods address the heterogeneity of ASD with a personalized approach grounded in the inherent sensory-motor abilities that the individual has already developed.

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Noise from the Periphery in Autism.Maria Brincker & Elizabeth B. Torres - 2013 - Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 7:34.
Thoughts about the autism label: A parental view.Charlotte Moore - 2008 - Journal of Philosophy of Education 42 (3-4):493-498.
Should we welcome a cure for autism? A survey of the arguments.R. Eric Barnes & Helen McCabe - 2012 - Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 15 (3):255-269.
Autism and the "theory of mind" debate.Robert M. Gordon & John A. Barker - 1994 - In George Graham & G. Lynn Stephens (eds.), Philosophical Psychopathology. MIT Press.
The presumption of movement.Alba Papa-Grimaldi - 2007 - Axiomathes 17 (2):137-154.
Explaining Impaired Play in Autism.Somogy Varga - 2010 - Journal für Philosophie Und Psychiatrie 3 (1):1-13.
Autism: Mind and Brain.Uta Frith & Elisabeth L. Hill (eds.) - 2004 - Oxford University Press.
Business Ethics after Enron.Donald M. Nolen - 2007 - The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 1:281-284.
Autism and the dynamic developmental model of emotions.Stuart Shanker - 2004 - Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 11 (3):219-233.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-06-10

Downloads
999 (#12,080)

6 months
101 (#34,565)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Maria Brincker
University of Massachusetts, Boston