Motor imagery in children high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

Motor Imagery provides a special context for representation of movements. This feature has been investigated in typical developing children in several studies, but there is little information in the field of motor imagery in children with autism. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate this component in children with autism spectrum disorder aged 8 to 12 years compared to typical developing peers. 40 ASD children and 40 TD children who were age and IQ matched, purposefully and available selected and participated in the research voluntarily. To investigate motor imagery, the hand rotation paradigm in 3D software was used. The task involves two blocks of 12 hand-pattern which rotates randomly three times at six angles. The reaction time and error numbers were recorded as the performance scores of each subject. In order to analyze the data, two analysis of variance tests were used to evaluate and compare the reaction times and the U-man Whitney test used for the number of errors separately for back and palm view of hand. The findings confirmed that children with autism are able to use this feature same TD, although this operation is less accurate and longer. So that in the reaction time and the number of error variables, the ASD group performed worse than TD peers. Although the disorder may effect on cognitive function underlying motor behaviors in these children, nevertheless the capacity required to learn and develop motor skills in these children is developed, usable, and exploitable.