Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33320398›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2021

Unique deficit in embodied simulation in autism: An fMRI study comparing autism and developmental coordination disorder.

Emily Kilroy, Laura Harrison, Christiana Butera, Aditya Jayashankar, Sharon Cermak, Jonas Kaplan, Marian Williams, Emily Haranin, Susan Bookheimer, Mirella Dapretto and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract readComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.3field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Action execution and observation in autistic adults: A systematic review of fMRI studies.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Observational
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Emily KilroyUSC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Laura HarrisonUSC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Christiana ButeraUSC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Aditya JayashankarUSC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Sharon CermakUSC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Jonas KaplanBrain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Marian WilliamsUSC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Emily HaraninUSC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Susan BookheimerDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Mirella DaprettoDepartment of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Lisa Aziz-ZadehUSC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3557-8083
University of Southern California · USChildren's Hospital of Los Angeles · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · US

Funding

The neurobiological basis of heterogeneous social and motor deficits in ASDR01HD079432 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · PI AZIZ-ZADEH, LISA SARAH, DAPRETTO, MIRELLA · 2015 to 2019
$2.2M
NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD079432
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A deficit in pre-cognitively mirroring other people's actions and experiences may be related to the social impairments observed in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear whether such embodied simulation deficits are unique to ASD or instead are related to motor impairment, which is commonly comorbid with ASD. Here we aim to disentangle how, neurologically, motor impairments contribute to simulation deficits and identify unique neural signatures of ASD. We compare children with ASD (N = 30) to children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD; N = 23) as well as a typically developing group (N = 33) during fMRI tasks in which children observe, imitate, and mentalize about other people's actions. Results indicate a unique neural signature in ASD: during action observation, only the ASD group shows hypoactivity in a region important for simulation (inferior frontal gyrus, pars opercularis, IFGop). However, during a motor production task (imitation), the IFGop is hypoactive for both ASD and DCD groups. For all tasks, we find correlations across groups with motor ability, even after controlling for age, IQ, and social impairment. Conversely, across groups, mentalizing ability is correlated with activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex when controlling for motor ability. These findings help identify the unique neurobiological basis of ASD for aspects of social processing. Furthermore, as no previous fMRI studies correlated brain activity with motor impairment in ASD, these findings help explain prior conflicting reports in these simulation networks.

Indexed as

Brain MappingSocial PerceptionAdolescentAutism Spectrum DisorderChildFemaleHumansImitative BehaviorMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMentalizationMotor ActivityMotor Skills DisordersPrefrontal Cortexaction imitationdyspraxiafunctional magnetic resonance imagingmentalizingmirror neuron system

Identifiers

PMID33320398
PMCPMC7927289
OpenAlexW3115772299

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.