Research project To function in everyday life, we need to flexibly adjust thoughts and behaviours to accommodate unforeseen demands from the environment. In this research project, we investigate in what ways flexible behaviour varies between adults with autism spectrum condition (ASC) and neurotypical adults.
Individuals with ASC often face particular challenges with flexibly adapting to new and unpredictable situations. In this interdisciplinary project, we investigate flexible behaviour in autistic compared with neurotypical adults, and how it relates to the brains blood flow and activity patterns, performance in behavioural studies, and subjective experiences of flexible behaviour in everyday and educational contexts.
Learning and brain plasticity throughout the life span
Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI)
Umeå School of Education
Magnus Bergvalls stiftelse
ASC is one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental conditions and is characterised by social and communicative difficulties as well as restricted and repetitive behaviours. In addition to the core symptoms, a range of other symptoms are also common, including difficulties with executive functions, learning problems and atypical sensory motor functioning. The challenges affecting autistic individuals are diverse and span from the cognitive to the motor domain, both of which relies on properly learning from new experiences.
Impairments in behavioural flexibility may underlie many of the difficulties that emerge in everyday life for autistic individuals. Previous studies have distinguished between cognitive and motor flexibility in neurotypical individuals but have shown that both forms of flexibility rely on overlapping neural networks. However, the neural markers associated with flexible behaviour in autism are still unclear.
The project aims to investigate cognitive and motor flexibility in adults with ASC compared to age- and sex-matched neurotypical adults. The aim is to increase understanding of similarities and differences in behavioural flexibility between these groups.
Cognitive flexibility will be examined through a task requiring decision making, which will be related to brain activation and vascular integrity. We will measure this using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and arterial spin labelling (ASL).
Motor flexibility will be examined through a task in which different movements are performed with a robotic arm (KinArm), where kinematic parameters (the spatiotemporal structure of the movement) are collected.
We will also conduct semi-structured interviews with autistic adults to investigate their own experiences of flexible behaviour in everyday and educational settings.
The project is a collaboration between Umeå University prioritised research area Learning and brain plasticity throughout the life span, Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI), Umeå School of Education and Department of Psychology at Umeå University. Through an interdisciplinary combination of neuroimaging methods, behavioural testing, and interviews, the project is expected to yield unique insights into flexibility in adults with ASC. The findings are expected to contribute novel knowledge that can inform the development of educational and clinical interventions.
