A new hypothesis in the cause of Autism is that of a dysfunctional motor neuron system. Motor neurons were discovered in the early 1990s while studying the brains of macaque monkeys. Researchers found that a group of neurons in the front part of their brains known as the ventral premotor cortex (just in front of the brain’s motor area) were activated when the monkey performed different tasks. The big shocker however, was that these same neurons were activated when the monkey watched someone else do the same action, just as if it had been doing the task itself. Much more research has been done since their discovery, and motor neurons are now known to be important to the tasks of empathy and socializing with other people, including communicating our emotions through facial expressions. In fact, it has been found that people with autism have dysfunctional mirror neuron systems. A characteristic of the disorder is difficulty socializing with others, and dysfunctional mirror neurons play a role in their inability to understand the intentions of others based on the action they observe. It has also been shown that the more severe the symptoms of autism are, the more inactive their mirror neurons are. The finding of these correlations has led to new therapeutic approaches that include autism patients imitating the actions of others.
V.S Ramachandran is a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego and is very well known and respected in the field of behavioural neurology. I have read is book: Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind that describes different neurological disorders, some of which are very rare and phenomenal, and how these “abnormalities” help us to understand how the brain is suppose to function under “normal” circumstances. I would highly recommend it to anyone fascinated by the mysteries of the human brain. Ramachandran has been studying this theory of autism that has come to be known as the “Broken Mirror” theory of autism. In a recent correspondence in Medical Hypotheses, Ramachandran and his colleague E.L. Seckel proposed a type of dance therapy for autism based on the theory that the mirror neuron system in autistic patients is not missing, but merely “dormant”. In Phantoms in the Brain, Ramachandran describes a therapy that he developed for patients with phantom limb involving mirrors. In a similar fashion, the therapy for autism that Ramachandran proposes is that an autistic patient would be in a room with multiple mirrors at different angles, and three neurotypical people. These people would dance to a rhythm and the autistic patient would mimic their movements and be able to watch themselves performing these actions in the many mirrors. In addition, Ramachandran and Seckel propose that various patterns of touch be administered to the autistic patient while they are watching themselves in the mirror, because of the existence of mirror neurons that fire when you watch someone else being touched. I would assume that the goal with this therapy is that the multiple ways to stimulate the mirror neurons would aim to restore the function of dormant mirror neurons in autistic patients.
This is a fascinating and novel therapy, and it will be interesting to see the future of therapies of this kind. Our paper with week was about the other pathways that may be a cause for autism. I think that future research should look at the theory of mirror neurons in conjunction with this article. Could the redox/methylation hypothesis be linked to these dormant mirror neurons, or can environmental factors impact mirror neurons in the same way that they can harm other pathways leading to autism? Findings about this link would also help to create combination treatments, which often seem to work better for many disorders, than one treatment alone.
For more information of mirror neurons and this new treatment, read the full articles that I have described, they’re very interesting!: http://www.sciencedirect.com.cordproxy.mnpals.net/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=272414&_user=1822410&_pii=S0306987710004603&_check=y&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_coverDate=2011-01-31&wchp=dGLzVlS-zSkzS&md5=499e9bc883e9a5c8121decf6c6450459/1-s2.0-S0306987710004603-main.pdf ; http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=brainbriefings_mirrorneurons
Synchronized Dance Therapy for Autism
First, I believe you meant “mirror neuron” not motor neuron. Mirror neurons were the subject of much speculation a few years ago. However, there are quite a few important neuroscientists who are skeptical about the claims that have been made for the powers of mirror neurons. You may want to read the Wiki article on mirror neurons.
The notion that dysfunctional mirror neurons might play a role in autism has run into some very heavy criticism. First, you have to believe that mirror neurons are responsible for “empathy” and then you have to make the assumption that autism is defined by a lack of empathy. What research Ramachandran did on this subject produced contradictory results. (You may find it noteworthy that UCSD has one of the six national centers of excellence in autism research. Professor Ramachandran does not participate in the research carried out by the center.)
You may want to check out Greg Hickok’s web site: Talking Brains. He is the founding director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at UC Irvine. He has been a steadfast opponent of the exaggerated claims that have been made for mirror neurons.
Finally, many of the ideas one finds in Ramachanran’s books are highly speculative. At this point there is no credible research to back up the theory that dysfunctional mirror neurons play a role in autism.