Do mirror systems play a role in social cognition and autism?
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1
Monash University, Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Central Clinical School, Australia
Mirror systems have been implicated in a range of social cognitive processes, whereby they are thought to represent a neurobiological substrate for understanding other’s minds. It has also been widely suggested that autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterised by impairments in social relating, might involve dysfunction within mirror system circuitry. We have conducted a series of studies utilising transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electromyography (EMG) that examine the role of mirror systems in a range of social cognitive processes, including facial affect recognition, social perception, and emotion processing, in both healthy adults and individuals diagnosed with ASD. Results provide some support for a link between mirror system activity and social cognition, although this is most evident for tasks involving an overt emotional element. With respect to autism, individuals with ASD display reduced mirror system activity when viewing other people’s motor behaviour, and this is associated with the severity of their social symptoms. There are, however, instances in which mirror system activity in ASD does not appear to be impaired (e.g., during the observation of interactive behaviour). These findings provide somewhat inconsistent support for the link between mirror systems, social cognition, and autism. More recent theoretical models of mirror system function, which stress the importance of top-down social processing and associative learning, may provide a more tenable account of the functional significance of mirror systems.
Keywords:
autism,
mirror system,
social cognition,
TMS,
Action Understanding
Conference:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Symposium Presentation
Topic:
Emotion and Social
Citation:
Enticott
P
(2012). Do mirror systems play a role in social cognition and autism?.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00006
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Received:
24 Oct 2012;
Published Online:
26 Oct 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Peter Enticott, Monash University, Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Central Clinical School, Melbourne, Australia, peter.enticott@deakin.edu.au