Defective inhibitory neurons in the visual cortex make it difficult for autistic children to identify the direction in which small objects are moving. This was reported by the press service of the RNF.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occurs in approximately 1% of children. Not all have significant cognitive impairments, but almost always this diagnosis is associated with problems in communication and communication. In addition, children with ASD develop certain perceptual disorders. It may be difficult for them to determine the direction of the drawn lines, or to understand in which direction the object is moving.
Experts from the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education decided to find out why children with ASD have problems with the perception of visual information. An experiment was conducted with the participation of 42 men and 37 healthy children with autistic disorder without significant developmental abnormalities. Volunteers aged 7 to 15 years were asked to identify which direction the contrast grid on a screen was moving. All subjects successfully completed the task with the large visual stimulus, but some children with ASD had difficulty when it was necessary to determine the direction of movement of the small grid. In a second experiment, children were shown moving objects on the screen while their brain activity was monitored using magnetoencephalography. Stimulation of neurons in the visual cortex prevailed over inhibition in approximately 15-20% of children with ASD. It was these children who often made mistakes when trying to determine the direction of movement of a small object in the first experiment.
According to the authors, it is inhibition problems that lead to the overstimulation of neurons, especially leading to epilepsy. Effective blocking is necessary for the operation of detectors, which are special neurons that receive information about the direction and direction of movement of lines, which are essential elements of a visual image. If the ability to determine where a large stimulus (“background”) is moving depends on many factors, then for a small “object” it is the visual cortex that matters, and this inhibition is more active than the excitation processes.
The authors hope that their research will help establish the initiation mechanics of ASD that may make it possible to treat them or suppress symptoms with medication in the future.
ancient biologists suggested using comatose women as surrogates.