UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
"IL DELTA DEI SIGNIFICATI"
a cura di Lorenzo Bernardi, Ordinario di Statistica Sociale
della Facoltà di Scienze Statistiche di Padova.
Edizioni Carocci Faber - 2008
Il volume riporta i risultati del Progetto di Ricerca EASIEST (Espressione Autistica: Studio Interdisciplinare
con Elaborazione Statistica e Testuale) finanziato con fondi dell'Università di Padova.
------------------------------------------------------------------
FENS Forum 2008
First author Pompili, Elisabetta (poster)
Poster board C58 - Mon 14/07/2008, 11:30 - Hall 1
Session 083 - Developmental disorders
Abstract n° 083.21
Publication ref.: FENS Abstr., vol.4, 083.21, 2008
Authors Pompili E. (1), Benassi F. (2), Palmieri M. G. (3), Giovannelli A. (4) & Emberti Gialloreti L. (5)
Addresses (1) 1 Neuropsychiatric Unit Asl Rm/C, Rome, Italy; (2) Communication and Neurorehabilitation Res.
Center, Rome, Italy; (3) Neurophysiopathol Unit, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy; (4) Dept of Exp
Medicine, University of L’Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy; (5) Dept of Public Health and Cell Biol, Tor Vergata
University, Rome, Italy
Evidence of mirror neuron activity in a 17-year-old boy with autism and without verbal language.
Recent studies described a possible malfunction of the mirror neurons system (MNS) in autistic
people. Early developmental failures of MNS are likely to result in a cascade of developmental
impairments, characterised by the clinical syndrome of autism. The Zukow-Goldring’s naturalistic
experiments delineated some of the ways in which "assisted imitation", contributes to children’s
communicative development (Arbib et al, 2005). In fact, some autistic people point and type on the
keyboard as a result of a program of "assisted imitation" aimed at learning the use of writing and
reading as an alternative to verbal language. We hypothesize that the learning of writing and reading
might activate the MNS. We used Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to evaluate the integrity of
MNS-cortical pathways in a single case.
We studied a 17-year old autistic boy, without verbal language, diagnosed according to DSM-IV
criteria and by specific screening tests (ADOS-G, ADI-R), and with normal MRI. Through TMS we
studied the excitability threshold expressed as a percentage of maximal stimulator output; motor
evoked potentials (MEP) latency onset; MEP amplitudes; silent period from the end of the MEP to the
onset of EMG ongoing activity. Stimulations and measurements were performed while the patient
was: 1) viewing another person performing the movement of the index finger onto the thumb; 2)
observing a subject typing with the right index finger on a keyboard in a communicative setting; 3)
answering in a communicative exchange by typing with the right index finger on a keyboard.
We observed an activation of MNS during all the three trials of the experimental session.
We suppose that, in this case, the MNS has been activated, possibly because the boy underwent a
rehabilitation treatment aimed at developing his complex imitation system. The possible reproduction
of these results in larger samples might pave the way to a new understanding of the role of MNS in
autistic syndromes.
Theme C - Disorders of the nervous system
Developmental disorders
Copyright © 2008 - Federation of European Neurosciences Societies (FENS)
