Sensorimotor abnormalities are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and predictive of functional outcomes, though their neural underpinnings remain poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined both brain activation and functional connectivity during visuomotor behavior in 27 individuals with ASD and 30 typically developing (TD) controls (ages 9-35 years). Participants maintained a constant grip force while receiving visual feedback at three different visual gain levels. Relative to controls, ASD participants showed increased force variability, especially at high gain, and reduced entropy. Brain activation was greater in individuals with ASD than controls in supplementary motor area, bilateral superior parietal lobules, and left middle frontal gyrus at high gain. During motor action, functional connectivity was reduced between parietal-premotor and parietal-putamen in individuals with ASD compared to controls. Individuals with ASD also showed greater age-associated increases in functional connectivity between cerebellum and visual, motor, and prefrontal cortical areas relative to controls. These results indicate that visuomotor deficits in ASD are associated with atypical activation and functional connectivity of posterior parietal, premotor, and striatal circuits involved in translating sensory feedback information into precision motor behaviors, and that functional connectivity of cerebellar-cortical sensorimotor and non-sensorimotor networks show delayed maturation.

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍个体之间的视运动脑网络激活和功能连接

感觉运动异常在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中很常见，并且可以预测功能结局，尽管对它们的神经基础仍然知之甚少。使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI），我们检查了27名ASD患者和30名典型发展（TD）对照（9-35岁）在视觉运动行为过程中的大脑激活和功能连通性。参与者保持恒定的抓地力，同时以三种不同的视觉增益水平接收视觉反馈。相对于对照组，ASD参与者表现出更大的力量可变性，尤其是在高增益时，并且熵降低。具有ASD的个体在增高运动区域，双侧上顶小叶和左中额回中的大脑激活程度高于对照组。在运动过程中，与对照组相比，ASD患者的顶叶前运动和顶叶丘脑之间的功能连接性降低。与对照组相比，患有ASD的个体在小脑与视觉，运动和前额叶皮层区域之间的功能连通性也显示出与年龄相关的更大增加。这些结果表明，ASD的视觉运动功能障碍与后壁，前运动和纹状体回路的非典型激活和功能连通性有关，后者将感觉反馈信息转化为精确的运动行为，并且小脑皮层感觉运动和非感觉运动网络的功能连通性表现出延迟的成熟。与对照组相比，患有ASD的个体在小脑与视觉，运动和前额叶皮层区域之间的功能连通性也显示出与年龄相关的更大增加。这些结果表明，ASD的视觉运动功能障碍与后壁，前运动和纹状体回路的非典型激活和功能连通性有关，后者将感觉反馈信息转化为精确的运动行为，并且小脑皮层感觉运动和非感觉运动网络的功能连通性表现出延迟的成熟。患有ASD的个体相对于对照组，在小脑与视觉，运动和前额叶皮层区域之间的功能连通性也显示出与年龄相关的更大增加。这些结果表明，ASD的视觉运动功能障碍与后壁，前运动和纹状体回路的非典型激活和功能连通性有关，后者将感觉反馈信息转化为精确的运动行为，并且小脑皮层感觉运动和非感觉运动网络的功能连通性表现出延迟的成熟。