Using movement kinematics to understand the motor side of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Beside core deficits in social interaction and communication, atypical motor patterns have been often reported in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It has been recently speculated that a part of these sensorimotor abnormalities could be better explained considering prospective motor control (i.e., the ability to plan actions toward future events or consider future task demands), which has been hypothesized to be crucial for higher mind functions (e.g., understand intentions of other people) (Trevarthen and Delafield-Butt 2013). The aim of the current dissertation was to tackle the motor ‘side’ in ASD exploring whether and how prospective motor control might be atypical in children with a diagnosis of autism, given that actions are directed into the future and their control is based on knowledge of what is going to happen next (von Hofsten and Rosander 2012). To do this, an integrative approach based on neuropsychological assessment, behavioural paradigms and machine learning modelling of the kinematics recorded with motion capture techniques was applied in typically developing children and children with ASD without accompanying intellectual impairment.

Comprensione del sintomo motorio dell'autismo attraverso la cinematica del movimento