Understanding emotions in others: mirror neuron dysfunction in children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

To examine mirror neuron abnormalities in autism, high-functioning children with autism and matched controls underwent fMRI while imitating and observing emotional expressions. Although both groups performed the tasks equally well, children with autism showed no mirror neuron activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis). Notably, activity in this area was inversely related to symptom severity in the social domain, suggesting that a dysfunctional 'mirror neuron system' may underlie the social deficits observed in autism.

Figure 1. Reliable activity during imitation of emotional expressions

(a,b) Activity in bilateral pars opercularis (stronger in the right) of the inferior frontal gyrus is seen in the typically developing group (a) but not in the ASD group (b). A between-group comparison (c) revealed that this difference was significant (t > 1.83, P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons at the cluster level). RH, right hemisphere; LH, left hemisphere.

Figure 2

Mirror neuron system activity during observation of emotional expressions. The right pars opercularis showed significantly greater activity in typically developing children than in children with ASD (t > 1.83, P < 0.05, small volume corrected).

Figure 3. Mirror neuron system activity and symptom severity

(a–c) Negative correlations were found in the ASD group between activity in the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus and scores on the social subscale of both ADOS-G (a,c) and ADI-R (b,c). t > 1.83, P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons at the cluster level.