Abstract
Although it has been often reported that the dysfunctional mirror neuron system (MNS) hypothesis in patients with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) using EEG and MEG, targeting mu rhythm suppression during action observation/execution, the results were quite controversial. In this study, we explored neural activity related to the MNS in patients with ASD, focusing on power increase in the beta frequency band after observation and execution of movements, known as post-movement beta rebound (PMBR). During the MEG recordings, the subjects were asked to observe and later execute object-related hand actions performed by an experimenter. Although both groups exhibited pronounced PMBR exceeding 20% when observing and executing actions with a similar topographic distribution of maximal activity, significantly reduced PMBR was found only during the observation condition in the patients relative to controls in cortical regions within the MNS, namely the sensorimotor area, premotor cortex and superior temporal gyrus. These results support the notion of a dysfunctional execution/observation matching system related to MNS impairment in patients with ASD.
