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Visual Motion Processing and Visual Sensorimotor Control in Autism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Yukari Takarae ,
Beatriz Luna ,
Nancy J. Minshew  and
John A. Sweeney
Yukari Takarae*
Affiliation:
Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas
Beatriz Luna
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nancy J. Minshew
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
John A. Sweeney
Affiliation:
Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Yukari Takarae, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, University of Texas Southwestern, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd MC9086, Dallas TX 75390. E-mail: yukari.takarae@southwestern.edu
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Abstract

Impairments in visual motion perception and use of visual motion information to guide behavior have been reported in autism, but the brain alterations underlying these abnormalities are not well characterized. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to investigate neural correlates of impairments related to visual motion processing. Sixteen high-functioning individuals with autism and 14 age and IQ-matched typically developing individuals completed two fMRI tasks using passive viewing to examine bottom–up responses to visual motion and visual pursuit tracking to assess top–down modulation of visual motion processing during sensorimotor control. The autism group showed greater activation and faster hemodynamic decay in V5 during the passive viewing task and reduced frontal and V5 activation during visual pursuit. The observations of increased V5 activation and its faster decay during passive viewing suggest alterations in local V5 circuitries that may be associated with reduced GABAergic tone and inhibitory modulation. Reduced frontal and V5 activation during active pursuit suggest reduced top–down modulation of sensory processing. These results suggest that both local intrinsic abnormalities in V5 and more widely distributed network level abnormalities are associated with visual motion processing in autism. (JINS, 2014, 20, 113–122)

Keywords

Visual motion perceptionVisual pursuitGABAAutism spectrum disordersFMRIEye movements
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 113 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2014 

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