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Broken Mirrors: a Theory of Autism

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Broken Mirrors: a Theory of Autism 62 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN NOVEMBER 2006 COPYRIGHT 2006 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. SPECIAL SECTION: NEUROSCIENCE BROKEN A THEORY MIRRORS OF AUTISM Studies of the mirror neuron system may reveal clues to the causes of autism and help researchers develop new ways to diagnose and treat the disorder By Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Lindsay M. Oberman t first glance you might not no- order, which afflicts about 0.5 percent of tice anything odd on meeting a American children. Neither researcher young boy with autism. But if had any knowledge of the other’s work, you try to talk to him, it will and yet by an uncanny coincidence each ) quickly become obvious that gave the syndrome the same name: autism, A something is seriously wrong. He may not which derives from the Greek word autos, make eye contact with you; instead he may meaning “self.” The name is apt, because avoid your gaze and fidget, rock his body the most conspicuous feature of the disor- photoillustration to and fro, or bang his head against the der is a withdrawal from social interac- wall. More disconcerting, he may not be tion. More recently, doctors have adopted able to conduct anything remotely resem- the term “autism spectrum disorder” to bling a normal conversation. Even though make it clear that the illness has many re- he can experience emotions such as fear, lated variants that range widely in severity ); JEN CHRISTIANSEN ( rage and pleasure, he may lack genuine but share some characteristic symptoms. empathy for other people and be oblivious Ever since autism was identified, re- to subtle social cues that most children searchers have struggled to determine photograph would pick up effortlessly. what causes it. Scientists know that sus- In the 1940s two physicians—Ameri- ceptibility to autism is inherited, although CHILDREN WITH AUTISM may struggle with social interaction can psychiatrist Leo Kanner and Austrian environmental risk factors also seem to because their mirror neuron systems pediatrician Hans Asperger—indepen- play a role [see “The Early Origins of Au- CARY WOLINSKY ( are not functioning properly. dently discovered this developmental dis- tism,” by Patricia M. Rodier; Scientific www.sciam.com SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN 63 COPYRIGHT 2006 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. American, February 2000]. Starting in ings. Equally puzzling is the fact that they Frith of University College London and the late 1990s, investigators in our labo- frequently show an extreme aversion to Simon Baron-Cohen of the University of ratory at the University of California, certain sounds that, for no obvious rea- Cambridge, who posit that the main ab- San Diego, set out to explore whether son, set off alarm bells in their minds. normality in autism is a deficit in the there was a connection between autism The theories that have been proposed ability to construct a “theory of other and a newly discovered class of nerve to explain autism can be divided into two minds.” Frith and Baron-Cohen argue cells in the brain called mirror neurons. groups: anatomical and psychological. that specialized neural circuitry in the Because these neurons appeared to be (Researchers have rejected a third group brain allows us to create sophisticated involved in abilities such as empathy and of theories—such as the “refrigerator hypotheses about the inner workings of the perception of another individual’s in- mother” hypothesis—that blame the dis- other people’s minds. These hypotheses, tentions, it seemed logical to hypothesize order on poor upbringing.) Eric Cour- in turn, enable us to make useful predic- that a dysfunction of the mirror neuron chesne of U.C.S.D. and other anatomists tions about others’ behavior. Frith and system could result in some of the symp- have shown elegantly that children with Baron-Cohen are obviously on the right toms of autism. Over the past decade, autism have characteristic abnormalities track, but their theory does not provide several studies have provided evidence in the cerebellum, the brain structure re- a complete explanation for the constel- for this theory. Further investigations of sponsible for coordinating complex vol- lation of seemingly unrelated symptoms of autism. Indeed, saying that people with autism cannot interact socially be- Mirror neurons appear to be cause they lack a “theory of other performing precisely the same functions minds” does not go very far beyond re- stating the symptoms. What researchers that are disrupted in autism. need to identify are the brain mecha- nisms whose known functions match those that are disrupted in autism. mirror neurons may explain how autism untary muscle movements. Although One clue comes from the work of arises, and in the process physicians may these observations must be taken into ac- Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues at develop better ways to diagnose and suc- count in any final explanation of autism, the University of Parma in Italy, who in cessfully treat the disorder. it would be premature to conclude that the 1990s studied neural activity in the damage to the cerebellum is the sole brains of macaque monkeys while the Explaining the Symptoms cause of the disorder. Cerebellar damage animals were performing goal-directed although the chief diagnostic inflicted by a stroke in a child usually actions [see “Mirrors in the Mind,” by signs of autism are social isolation, lack produces tremors, swaying gait and ab- Giacomo Rizzolatti, Leonardo Fogassi of eye contact, poor language capacity normal eye movements—symptoms rare- and Vittorio Gallese, on page 54]. Re- and absence of empathy, other less well ly seen in autism. Conversely, one does searchers have known for decades that known symptoms are commonly evi- not see any of the symptoms typical of certain neurons in the premotor cortex— dent. Many people with autism have autism in patients with cerebellar dis- part of the brain’s frontal lobe—are in- problems understanding metaphors, ease. It is possible that the cerebellar volved in controlling voluntary move- sometimes interpreting them literally. changes observed in children with autism ments. For instance, one neuron will fire They also have difficulty miming other may be unrelated side effects of abnor- when the monkey reaches for a peanut, people’s actions. Often they display an mal genes whose other effects are the another will fire when the animal pulls a eccentric preoccupation with trifles yet true causes of the disorder. lever, and so on. These brain cells are ignore important aspects of their envi- Perhaps the most ingenious of the often referred to as motor command ronment, especially their social surround- psychological theories is that of Uta neurons. (Bear in mind that the neuron whose activity is recorded does not con- Overview/Mirror Neurons and Autism trol the arm by itself; it is part of a circuit that can be monitored by observing the ■ Because mirror neurons appear to be involved in social interaction, signals in the constituent neurons.) dysfunctions of this neural system could explain some of the primary What surprised Rizzolatti and his co- symptoms of autism, including isolation and absence of empathy. workers was that a subset of the motor ■ Studies of people with autism show a lack of mirror neuron activity in several command neurons also fired when the regions of the brain. Researchers speculate that treatments designed to monkey watched another monkey or a restore this activity could alleviate some of autism’s symptoms. researcher perform the same action. For ■ A complementary hypothesis, the salience landscape theory, could account example, a neuron involved in control- for secondary symptoms of autism such as hypersensitivity. ling the reach-for-the-peanut action fired when the monkey saw one of his fellows 64 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN NOVEMBER 2006 COPYRIGHT 2006 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. making that movement. Brain-imaging cortex of awake human subjects, investi- also requires a remapping of sorts be- techniques subsequently showed that gators found that certain neurons that tween brain areas. To imitate the moth- these so-called mirror neurons also exist typically fi re in response to pain also fi red er’s or father’s words, the child’s brain in the corresponding regions of the hu- when the person saw someone else in must transform auditory signals in the man cortex. These observations implied pain. Mirror neurons may also be in- hearing centers of the brain’s temporal that mirror neurons—or, more accurate- volved in imitation, an ability that ap- lobes into verbal output from the motor ly, the networks they are part of—not pears to exist in rudimentary form in the cortex. Whether mirror neurons are only send motor commands but also en- great apes but is most pronounced in hu- directly involved in this skill is not known, able both monkeys and humans to deter- mans. The propensity to imitate must be but clearly some analogous process must mine the intentions of other individuals at least partly innate: Andrew Meltzoff of be going on. Last, mirror neurons may by mentally simulating their actions. In the University of Washington has shown enable humans to see them selves as others monkeys, the role of the neurons may be that if you stick your tongue out at a new- see them, which may be an essential abil- limited to predicting simple goal-direct- born baby, the infant will do the same. ity for self-awareness and introspection. ed actions, but in humans the mirror Because the baby cannot see its own neuron system may have evolved the abil- tongue, it cannot use visual feedback and Suppressing Mu Waves ity to interpret more complex intentions. error correction to learn the skill. Instead what has all this to do with au- Later research showed that mirror there must be a hardwired mechanism in tism? In the late 1990s our group at neurons are located in other parts of the the child’s brain for mapping the mother’s U.C.S.D.
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