Browsing by Author "Murias, Kara"

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    An Examination of Sensorimotor Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Robotic Measurement
    (2021-04-30) Moghe, Ishita; Murias, Kara; Pringsheim, Tamara; Dukelow, Sean P; Gibbard, William B
    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social impairments and restricted and stereotyped behaviours. Sensorimotor deficits in children with ASD have been widely reported clinically but lack reproducible quantified measures. Children with ASD can display a wide range of symptoms and symptom severity and sensorimotor abilities vary greatly within the population. The primary aims of this exploratory study were to precisely quantify sensorimotor function in a group of children with ASD, and to determine how sensorimotor function is associated with aspects of daily life and behaviour in children with ASD. We used the Kinarm exoskeleton robot to measure upper limb function through established task protocols. We examined motor abilities (visually guided reaching task), sensory and proprioceptive function (arm position matching task), and cognitive-motor integration (object hit and avoid task). Kinarm scores in the ASD group (n = 31) were standardized using a typically developing group (n = 150), showing significant differences in reaction time, accuracy, consistency, and inhibition. To examine symptom severity in terms of social and adaptive function, we collected Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS) and Vineland Adaptive behaviour Scales-3 (VABS) caregiver responses from the ASD group. We found that Kinarm scores correlated most often with VABS adaptive behaviour composite score and VABS communication domain score, suggesting that sensorimotor impairments are associated with the daily lives and social communication of children with ASD. Overall, we were able to quantify sensorimotor deficits in children with ASD and link them to daily behaviour.
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    The Emergence of Cognitive Maps for Spatial Navigation in 7- to 10-Year-Old Children
    (Society for Research In Child Development, 2019-07-08) Burles, Ford; Liu, Irene; Hart, Chelsie; Murias, Kara; Graham, Susan; Iaria, Giuseppe
    Although much is known about adults' ability to orient by means of cognitive maps (mental representations of the environment), it is less clear when this important ability emerges in development. In the present study, 97 seven- to 10-year-olds and 26 adults played a video game designed to investigate the ability to orient using cognitive maps. The game required participants to reach target locations as quickly as possible, necessitating the identification and use of novel shortcuts. Seven- and 8-year-olds were less effective than older children and adults in using shortcuts. These findings provide clear evidence of a distinct developmental change around 9 years of age when children begin to proficiently orient and navigate using cognitive maps.
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    Tactile cortical responses and association with tactile reactivity in young children on the autism spectrum
    (2021-04-01) Espenhahn, Svenja; Godfrey, Kate J; Kaur, Sakshi; Ross, Maia; Nath, Niloy; Dmitrieva, Olesya; McMorris, Carly; Cortese, Filomeno; Wright, Charlene; Murias, Kara; Dewey, Deborah; Protzner, Andrea B; McCrimmon, Adam; Bray, Signe; Harris, Ashley D
    Abstract Background Unusual behavioral reactions to sensory stimuli are frequently reported in individuals on the autism spectrum (AS). Despite the early emergence of sensory features (< age 3) and their potential impact on development and quality of life, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying sensory reactivity in early childhood autism. Methods Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate tactile cortical processing in young children aged 3–6 years with autism and in neurotypical (NT) children. Scalp EEG was recorded from 33 children with autism, including those with low cognitive and/or verbal abilities, and 45 age- and sex-matched NT children during passive tactile fingertip stimulation. We compared properties of early and later somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and their adaptation with repetitive stimulation between autistic and NT children and assessed whether these neural measures are linked to “real-world” parent-reported tactile reactivity. Results As expected, we found elevated tactile reactivity in children on the autism spectrum. Our findings indicated no differences in amplitude or latency of early and mid-latency somatosensory-evoked potentials (P50, N80, P100), nor adaptation between autistic and NT children. However, latency of later processing of tactile information (N140) was shorter in young children with autism compared to NT children, suggesting faster processing speed in young autistic children. Further, correlational analyses and exploratory analyses using tactile reactivity as a grouping variable found that enhanced early neural responses were associated with greater tactile reactivity in autism. Limitations The relatively small sample size and the inclusion of a broad range of autistic children (e.g., with low cognitive and/or verbal abilities) may have limited our power to detect subtle group differences and associations. Hence, replications are needed to verify these results. Conclusions Our findings suggest that electrophysiological somatosensory cortex processing measures may be indices of “real-world” tactile reactivity in early childhood autism. Together, these findings advance our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying tactile reactivity in early childhood autism and, in the clinical context, may have therapeutic implications.
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    The Development of Spatial Orientation in Children After Perinatal Stroke
    (2016-01-08) Murias, Kara; Iaria, Giuseppe; Kirton, Adam; Brooks, Brian; Graham, Susan
    To enable investigation of spatial orientation abilities across a range of ages and developmental abilities, we developed a navigation task comprised of a video game in a virtual museum in which subjects were required to find different rooms with distinct themes. We then validated the task by studying a large number of healthy young adults and confirming a strong correlation with self-reported orientation abilities in everyday life (Chapter 2). We also analysed performance on the navigation task as it related to demographics and video game use, verifying previously observed gender differences and demonstrating that individuals with a longer history of video game play, as well as participants who played video games that required navigation, performed better than individuals without experience navigating in video games. Our evidence, therefore, supports the hypothesis that better navigation and orientation skills in individuals playing video games are likely due to the consistent practice of those skills while playing for entertainment (Chapter 2). Children who have experienced a stroke around the time of birth have been shown to have IQ in the normal or near normal range as a group; however a portion of children has consistently demonstrated cognitive delays. Utilizing both concurrent neuropsychological testing and pre-existing clinical data, we found that the factors that were predictive of initial performance on the spatial orientation task were age, gender, motor dexterity, the presence of Arterial Ischemic Stroke (AIS), and loss of grey matter volume (Chapter 3). Furthermore, the modest deficits in topographical orientation, seen in AIS patients, were ameliorated by further practice and were no longer seen after the second time playing the video game. In contrast, AIS, parental education and involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF) cortex were predictive factors for full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ). Loss of tissue volume predicted reduced verbal comprehension index (VCI) scores (Chapter 3). The relative preservation of spatial orientation, a multifaceted behaviour with a prolonged developmental course, would lend support to the hypothesis that injury within a network allows for better resiliency of that skill and may be an illustration that there is better recovery of an ability if injury occurs before that proficiency has fully matured.