Evaluating functional connectivity during motor imitation using diffuse optical tomography
Poster No:
2055
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Sung Min Park1, Tessa George2, Chloe Sobolewski2, Sophia McMorrow3, Dalin Yang2, Mary Nebel4, Bahar Tunçgenç5, René Vidal6, Natasha Marrus7, Stewart Mostofsky4, Adam Eggebrecht8
Institutions:
1Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, 2Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 3Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, 4Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, 5University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom, 6University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 7Washington University School of Medciine, St. Louis, MO, 8Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder traditionally characterized by heterogenous phenotypes, comprises a central affected domain of impaired social communication [1]. Current research suggests that deficits in motor imitation may be associated with impaired development of social-communicative skills [2], [3]. However, due to the limitations of functional neuroimaging modalities, there is insufficient work assessing brain activity during motor imitation. Here, in a proof-of-principle study in neurotypical adults, we utilize High-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT), a functional neuroimaging modality that facilitates an open scanning environment and has reduced sensitivity to motion-based artifacts, to measure cortical activity during complex gross motor imitation [4]. We apply independent component analysis with reference (ICAR) [5] to HD-DOT data and obtain subject-specific spatiotemporal components that display differential pattern of functional connectivity (FC) during motor observation and imitation. Furthermore, FC between the components show correlation with both behavioral and imitation fidelity scores.
·(Figure 1) Schematics of data acquisition and analysis pipeline.
Methods:
Data were acquired from 45 adults (28 females, ages 18-31, no prior diagnosis of ASD) using a HD-DOT system consisting of 128 sources and 125 detectors, with over 3,500 measurement pairs. During the observation task, participants watched stimulus videos, whereas, during the imitation task, they imitated a series of upper extremity movements (Fig 1.B). Motor imitation fidelity score was computed using the computerized assessment of motor imitation (CAMI) algorithm [6] (Fig.1.C). Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), a measure of social reciprocity, was also collected. Data were processed using the NeuroDOT [7] pipeline in MATLAB with motion detection and censoring performed using global variance in the temporal derivative [8]. Gordon parcellation atlas [9] was used to generate a spatial reference for the ICAR algorithm via the GIFT toolbox [10]. The ICAR algorithm produces a spatiotemporal representation of the subject data based on the spatial reference while minimizing the mutual information between components. Significance in FC changes (observation-imitation) was assessed using paired t-test at a p cut-off of 0.05 with multiple comparison correction using false discovery rate (FDR, q-value cut off < 0.0480). Pearson correlation (\rho) quantified the linear relation between behavioral scores (SRS-2, CAMI) and all possible FC pairs calculated from observation or imitation. The statistical significance of the linear relation was evaluated by computing an adjusted q-value < 0.0460.
Results:
18 spatial reference-based independent components were estimated. A subset of the derived components (7 out of 153 FC pairs) had significantly different temporal activation during motor observation and imitation sessions (p < 0.0084). During observation, four FC pairs showed positive correlation with the CAMI score (Fig.2.A-D). During imitation, another four FC pairs showed positive correlation with the CAMI score (Fig. 2.E-H). While there was no linear relation between FC during observation sessions and SRS-2, FC between cingulo opercular and frontoparietal regions and between dorsal attention and ventral attention regions were positively (\rho\ =\ 0.4489) and negatively correlated (\rho\ =\ -0.4828) with the SRS-2 scores, respectively.
·(Figure 2) Functional connectivity pairs that exhibit strong relationship with imitation fidelity (CAMI) score and significantly high correlation during observation and imitation tasks
Conclusions:
ICAR estimates individualized spatiotemporal representation of brain activation during motor observation and imitation. The FC derived from the ICAR components show differential activation during observation and imitation and are correlated with both the SRS-2 score measuring social reciprocity and the motor imitation fidelity score. While this analysis focused on adults without ASD, our future work aims to further extend this analysis in adults with ASD and in school-age children (7-16 years).
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Neurodevelopmental/ Early Life (eg. ADHD, autism)
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Social Interaction
Motor Behavior:
Motor Behavior Other 1
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
NIRS 2
Imaging Methods Other
Keywords:
Autism
Motor
Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS)
Other - imitation
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
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