Tuesday, February 27, 2007

"Understanding Autism: Insights from Mind and Brain" Summary

Journal 8: Summary 4:

To further explore the Theory of Mind deficit in autistic individuals we must look further into what theory of mind is. Theory of Mind (ToM) is a persons ability to attribute mental and emotional states to themselves and to others. In autism it has been widely agreed that a fully developed ToM is missing . Autistic children have trouble understanding purpose and emotion in situations. In tests done by Baron-Cohen et al on normally functioning four year old individuals, autistic individuals with a mental state of about four years old, and individuals with down syndrome, they were told a story about two girls. One girl placed a marble into a basket and then leaves the room. Then the other girl takes the marble while the first girl is away and places it into her box. The first girl then comes back. The participants were asked where girl number one would look for her marble. The group of normally functioning individuals answered that the girl would look into her basket for the marble because she did not know it was not in the basket. However 80% of the autistic individuals answered that she would look into the box, even though they answered that the second girl had put the marble in her basket and she did not know it had been moved. Furthermore 86% of the individuals with down syndrome answered correctly. This test shows an obvious deficit in ToM in the autistic individuals. Many theories have been devised concerning the reason for this deficit including but not limited to the mirror neuron theory.

Works cited:

Hill,;Elisabeth L.Frith,Uta "Understanding Autism: Insights from Mind and Brain"
Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, Vol. 358, No. 1430, Autism: Mind and Brain. (Feb. 28, 2003), pp. 281-289.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Using the Mirror Neuron Theory for early diagnosis and therapies for autism

Journal 7:

So far in this blog I have only discussed the evidence for the existence of a mirror neuron system and its correlation to symptoms of autism, but what I have not yet discussed could possibly be the most important aspect; the reason the research has been conducted in the first place; finding a cure, or at least being able to further diagnosis and therapies for those suffering from the disorder. Due to the fact that these theories are fairly new and testing takes a great deal of time, only educated hypotheses can be made for possible treatments at this time, but I think it is important to include these possibilities into my research as the next steps to be taken in this field.

First, the possibility of early diagnosis comes from the EEG machine. In the experiment described in an earlier post, where EEG machines were used to detect the responses of the mirror neuron system to stimuli, the objects being detected were called Mu waves. A Mu wave is one of many Electromagnetic waves in the brain ranging from 8-13 Hertz. These Mu waves “arise from synchronous and coherent electrical activity of large groups of neurons in the human brain”. The waves are measurable with an electroencephalography or (EEG) machine. Many tests have been done observing the Mu waves with the EEG machine and it has been found that the Mu waves in the brain are suppressed when a person makes a voluntary movement. Also, it has been noted that the Mu waves are suppressed when watching someone else perform a task as well. In autistic individuals the mu waves are suppressed when doing an action, but not when seeing an action done. These findings suggest that EEG machines can be used to diagnose autism within weeks of birth. EEG machines pose no risk to infants, although it may be a little difficult to get a newborn to stop struggling long enough to put the cap on. Earlier diagnosis of autism means many things in the autism community. A few advantages of early diagnosis are early therapies and interventions and an understanding of the learning difficulties associated with autism. This could also mean great leaps forward in the way autism education is approached.

There have been many suggested therapies with these new theories that could lead to better treatment options for autistic individuals as well. One such suggestion is biofeedback. Basically, biofeedback could be used to “used to display the mu waves and then use visual feedback of the display of the mu waves to teach children how to suppress the mu waves.” very little research has been published in this area, but still more is being conducted. The few published studies show very promising results with improvements in almost all areas using biofeedback.

Another possibility is correcting a chemical imbalance that may be disabling the mirror neuron system. Researchers believe that using certain neuromodulators could stimulate the mirror neurons that are associated with emotional responses; an area affected greatly in autism spectrum disorders. These along with many other innovative ideas are in testing right now and results seem to be very promising.


Works Cited:

“Mirror Neuron Theory”. Nov. 2006. 21 Feb. 2007

Olds, Jim. Krasnow Director's Column. 23 Oct.2006 . 26 Feb. 2007

What’s New in Neurofeedback. Kaiser,David. July. 2006. Vol. 9 No. 7 26 Feb. 2007.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

"Imitation, mirror neurons, and autism" Summary :

Journal 6: Summary 3:

One commonly associated deficit in autism is an absence of ‘theory of mind’. The theory of mind or ToM as defined by Premack and Woodruff, who first described this theory in 1978, as the ability to “attribute mental states and to use these invisible postulates to explain behavior in everyday life”( Qtd. In Chari). In a broader definition as described by Encarta MSN.com’s dictionary ToM is “concepts of mental activity: the way somebody conceives of mental activity in others, including how children conceptualize mental activity in others and how they attribute intention to and predict the behavior of others”. The problem with trying to use the ToM exclusively to explain autism is that some major symptoms, such as an inability to imitate other people and delays in or a complete lack of language development seem to either counter or steam from somewhere else completely than the ToM.

To account for this seeming discrepancy we must examine imitation as a precursor for a theory of mind. You must first be able to imitate something; to see someone do and then do yourself, before you are able to breakdown in your own mind the possibility of what and why they have done this, thus being able to understand the doer’s situation and apply it to their own lives. To apply this to a deficit of ToM in autism we can show a deficit in imitation. In 21 studies done, 19 showed at least some level of an inability or unwillingness to readily imitate other humans in autistic individuals. These findings suggest a problem with the ability of the individuals to properly map the actions of others.

Patients with damage to their front left lobe of their brain have shown huge deficits in their ability to imitate actions, though they have the physical ability to. This coincides with the idea that imitation relies on the representations of actions and is associated with the part of the brain that has been damaged in these individuals. This area has been studied in non-human primates and a system of neurons called the mirror neuron system (MN system) has been discovered, which is responsible for coding the actions of the primates. It is not possible to directly study humans in the same way as these primates to show the sure existence of a mirror neuron system in humans, but EEG tests strongly suggest such a discovery.

Mirror neurons involving hand motions in primates are thought to have evolved into speech capabilities in humans, and thus “by acting as a bridge between perceived and performed actions and speech, the MN system is thus suggested to have provided the foundations for the evolution of dialogue”. The mirror neuron system is also associated with the ability to ‘put yourself into someone else’s shoes,’ and as stated earlier, this is associated with the development of a theory of mind.

All of this can be applied in autism by showing a malfunction in the mirror neuron system. I have already discussed the studies described here for showing the disjunction in mirror neurons in autistic individuals so I will not describe them again. (refer to posts 2 and 4 for explanations).

There is no empirical evidence that the existence of a MN system is utilized in imitation and thus the development of a theory of mind and that a dysfunction in the MN system can lead to the autism, but the evidence presented thus far can strongly suggest such a conclusion.


Works Cited:

Chari, Satyan. “The “Theory of Mind” Hypothesis: Explaining Autism”. 2003. 10 Feb. 2007

Encarta World English Dictionary [North American Edition], 2006. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 10 Feb. 2007

Williams, J.H.G, Whiten, A, Suddendorf, T, Perrett, D.I. Rev. of Imitation, mirror neurons, and autism. 19 Mar. 2001. 10 Feb. 2007

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Reflections in the mirror

Journal 5:

I have so far dedicated a lot of time and energy to researching mirror neurons. Every night and usually after English class I am on the computer trying to further this project. A lot of that time on the internet is spent just trying to learn the lingo of neuroscientists so that I can understand their research well enough to be able to summarize it. This topic is one that greatly interests me, but one that is turning out to be difficult to step into overnight. The blog is coming along well and the assignments for class are as well, but I am not so confident when it comes to the final project. One aspect I would like to explore for the final paper is the acceptance of the existence of a mirror neuron system in humans around the world; however all of my efforts to search for information about this have come up empty. I find blips in my resources about research done outside the United States but never in detail.

Another obstacle in my way is; of the 833,000 results that Google gives me 80% of what I have read is about the same two breakthrough experiments I have already used in my blog. It is becoming difficult to find new sources for the blog and for the paper. I am confident I can write the paper with what I have now , with all the comprehensive data and deep explanations required, but I really want to be able to talk about the discovery and acceptance of both mirror neurons and autism as well. Frustration is setting in because I know in choosing this topic I have made things harder for myself, but I could use the push to force myself to become better at writing difficult papers like this one. I know my skills as they are now would get me about ---------- that far in a higher level course, so this will be good for me in the long run anyways.

I’m not looking for pats on the head from the teacher, but I want this paper and this blog to be useful to me after this class, especially because I am deeply considering researching this for the rest of my life. I am going to e-mail Lindsay Oberman, one of the people I have described in my ‘breakthroughs’ post and conduct an interview with her if she is willing and I want to ask her to look at my blog. That adds another level of pressure to keeping this blog as perfect as possible .Through the bit of research I have done I have come to respect her a great deal and I do not want to seem lame. I think there is much I could learn form Ms. Oberman and there is some much appreciated advice that she could give me not only for this project but for my career goals as well.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Mindblindness

Journal 4: Summary 2

This book is a very helpful and relevant source. Baron-Cohen presents his theory about Thory of Mind which he calls ‘mindreading’ and delves into the evolution of its components. He describe how the average person, if almost completely unbeknownst to themselves, mindread every day and that that is how we interact with and learn from the world around us. Our interpretation of actions is what allows us to predict and understand situations. He goes further to explain that autistic individuals are what he terms ‘mind blind’. They are unable to interpret the actions of other people. Baron-Cohen describes the world of an autistic individual as being “devoid of mental things.” He discusses how important eye contact and the’ language of the eyes’ are to social interaction. He describes how so many thing can be said in glare such as ’the evil eye’ or what a look of surprise can mean in certain situations. Autistic individual cannot decipher between different eye expressions and Baron-Cohen describes that this too is a result of their ’mindblindness’.

Citation:

Baron-Cohen, Simon. Mindblindness. London; MTI press, 1995.

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Nova Video: Highly Recommended

Do you remember in middle school watching those slightly corny videos from Nova? Well I have found a video by Nova that describes mirror neurons. I highly recommend watching it. I admit it is a bit corny (it is made for middle school and high school) but it is exceptional in explaining the discovery of mirror neurons, the experiments I have described in my posts, and Dr. Ramachadran, who I have described in my ‘Breakthroughs’ post, is featured. Dr. Ramachadran is a notably intelligent person and is very excited about what he does, so the interview is wonderful. If you watched the other video I have posted you might notice that he was in that video as well. Dr. Ramachadran is the leading person currently in his area. The video is a little longer, about 14 minutes, and may be a problem if you do not have a fast connection. My computer is on Kent's network and it took the video about 10 minutes to load so if your patient enough I hope you take advantage of the link and watch this Nova Video

Breakthroughs


Journal 3:

Autism has become one of the greatest mysteries of modern science, with thousands of experts all over the world working to find answers. Since it was first described as its own disorder in 1943 by Dr. Leo Kanner, cases of autism have continued to rise around the world. The severity of the disorder fluctuates in each case from low to high function cases as described by Hans Asperger who is known for his work with high functioning autistic individuals. The disorder is described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) as being associated with a lack of interest in social situations, poor or no development of communication skills, repetitive behaviors, and impairment in role playing and imaginary play. Due to the areas of impairment and the similarities to brain damage patients, a neurological answer has been sought for many years.


Giacomo Rizzolatti, a neuroscientist at the University of Parma, and his colleagues were the first researchers in the field to discover the existence of mirror neurons in macaque monkeys in the 1980’s. This discovery held many questions for the researchers and they continued to delve into the subject, conducting experiments involving a macaque monkey performing tasks, such as grabbing a peanut, and then watching researchers perform the same tasks. These experiments turned up consecutive evidence that the monkey’s mirror neurons fired in both incidences. The findings were published for the first times in Experimental Brain Research (Vol. 91, No. 1). Shortly after reporting their findings the researchers took the next step to test for mirror neurons in humans. The study turned up the same findings. This was the breakthrough that has lead to many more experiments in this field.

A recent study was conducted by Lindsay Oberman and Vilayanur Ramachandran, yielding new information that could lead to another breakthrough. Dr. Ramachadran of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego is one of the leading figures studying the link between mirror neurons and autism. Dr. Ramachadran has written over 120 papers for a wide variety of medical and scientific journals. His work has been translated into eight languages and he is known around the world. Ramachadran has been featured in many news and television programs (including the videos I have featured on this blog) and has received a long list of degrees, honors and awards. He has written a number of papers with Lindsay Oberman, another researcher and student at the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California. I plan to e-mail Lindsay to try to set up an interview with her through e-mail or phone due to the lack of information on the internet about her education and involvement in the studies she has conducted.


Photos: From top right: Dr. Leo Kanner taken from Autism-Home,Hans Asperger taken from The national Autistic Society’s Website ,Giacomo Rizzolatti taken from Enel , Vilayanur Ramachandran taken from his UCSD website, Lindsay Oberman taken from her UCSD website,

Works cited:
Winerman, Lea. “The mind's mirror.” Monitor On Psychology: A Publication of the American Psychological Association. Vol. 36 Oct. 2005.
http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct05/mirror.html

Friday, February 2, 2007

A look into Gabe's World

I found this video while searching Google video. It is not very long, only about six minutes, and if you do not have a fast enough connection you may not be able to watch, but I found this video to be very informative, and easy to understand. It shows a boy with Asperger’s syndrome and the host of the program performing the experiment I wrote about for my first source. I like the idea of including this video for those of you that are visual learners. I hope you are able to watch it, but if not I have included a brief summery.

The video starts with a boy named Gabe, who has Asperger’s syndrome, which is a mild case of autism; the two terms are often interchangeable. The host describes the disability briefly and then explains that so far a sure cause is elusive, but that there is new research in a promising area: mirror neurons. He describes the function of the neurons and how they are linked to our ability to ‘put ourselves in someone else’s shoes’ and therefore be able to feel and sympathize with that person. After the host explains the function of mirror neurons, he and Gabe are shown hooked up to an EEG machine at the University of California San Diego. They both perform the task of opening and closing their hands, then they watch a video of the same task being performed by someone else. They also watch two people bouncing a red ball and white noise (static) for controls in the experiment. They do not show the results of the EEG test, however the host explains that Gabe’s mirror neurons did not fire when watching the video of the hand on the video screen and did when he was asked to perform the task himself. The host uses the example of a cheerleading squad to show a practical use of the mirror neuron system. The video ended abruptly for me and I could not get it to play the last few seconds so I cannot say how it ended, but I thought this was a very well done video and a great source to post on this blog so I hope you enjoyed if you were able to watch and I hope it better helped you to understand what I am researching.