Broken or socially mistuned mirroring in ASD? An investigation via transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Mirror neurons work fine in autism, but social cues dial them down only for people with higher symptom severity.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Prinsen et al. (2022) used magnetic brain pulses to test the mirror system in adults with autism.
They watched how hand muscles jumped when people saw another hand move while eye gaze was either friendly or blank.
Adults with and without autism joined the lab test, and their autism traits were scored.
What they found
On average, both groups showed the same mirror-system jump.
Yet adults with more autism traits had weaker muscle jumps, especially when eye gaze was social.
The mirror system is not broken; it just tunes less to social cues when autism traits are high.
How this fits with other research
Yates et al. (2020) already said the broken-mirror story is too simple. Their review favors a newer model that adds social context, which matches the new finding of intact but socially mistuned mirroring.
Doughty et al. (2015) saw the same pattern in kids. Children with autism copied happy faces like peers, but those with worse social skills copied fearful faces less, echoing the severity-linked drop seen here.
McLennan et al. (2008) looked at eye gaze in adults with autism and found no group difference for simple emotions, only for complex ones. The TMS study adds a motor piece: the mirror system also waits for social meaning before it drops off.
Why it matters
You can stop saying the mirror system is broken. Instead, watch how social cues land for each client. When eye contact or emotion is rich, kids with more traits may need extra prompts to respond. Try adding clear social gaze or happy faces to your imitation drills, and note who needs more help.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience persistent difficulties during social interactions and communication. Previously, it has been suggested that deficits in the so-called "mirror system," active during both action execution and observation, may underlie these social difficulties. It is still a topic of debate however whether deficiencies in the simulation of others' actions (i.e., "broken" mirroring) forms a general feature of ASD, or whether these mostly reflect a lack of social attunement. The latter would suggest an overall intact mirror system, but an impaired modulation of mirror activity according to variable social contexts. In this study, 25 adults with ASD and 28 age- and IQ-matched control participants underwent transcranial magnetic stimulation during the observation of hand movements under variable conditions. Hand movements were presented via a live interaction partner, either without social context to assess basic motor mirroring or in combination with direct and averted gaze from the actor to assess socially modulated mirroring. Overall, no significant group differences were revealed, indicating no generally diminished mirror activity in ASD. Interestingly however, regression analyses revealed that, among ASD participants, higher symptom severity was associated with both reduced basic motor mirroring and aberrant socially modulated mirroring (i.e., no enhancement of mirror system activity upon observation of the interaction partner's direct vs. averted gaze). These findings further challenge the notion that mirror system dysfunctions constitute a principal feature of ASD, but demonstrate that variations in mirroring may be related to differential expressions of ASD symptom severity. LAY SUMMARY: Our findings show similar activity levels in brain regions responsible for action simulation and understanding in adults with autism, compared to adults without autism. However, the presence of more severe autism symptoms was linked to reduced activity in these regions. This suggests lower levels of brain activity during action understanding in some, but not all, persons with autism, which may contribute to the social difficulties these persons experience in daily life.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022 · doi:10.1002/aur.2720