A symphony of functioning: Assessing the interplay of cognition, movement, and visual processing in adolescents on the autism spectrum using mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI)

Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by differences across multiple functional domains: cognitive, sensory, motor, etc. There is a need to understand how concurrent demands in different domains can impact performances in one another, as the simultaneous processing and execution of tasks from different domains is how most normal daily tasks and activities are completed. Differences in integration are thought to underly many characters of ASD, and therefore understanding how these domains interact in typically and neurodivergently developing populations is vital for identifying more nuanced and precise markers for supporting diagnosis and treatment decisions. Methods We used Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) to simultaneously record 64 channel electroencephalography (EEG), motion-tracking, and response inhibition task performance in adolescents (ages 13–23, mean 16.96 years) with (typical developing, TD) and without ASD. We designed experimental conditions that either did or did not include a motor demand (standing or treadmill walking), sensory demand (static field or optical flow), and cognitive demand (completing task or not) to investigate single, dual, and tri-modal impacts on ERPs, gait kinematics, and task accuracy and speed. Results The TD group was significantly more accurate when walking. The ASD group did not increase task accuracy despite making similar adjustments response speed when going from standing to walking. Optic flow did not impact task accuracy or response speed for either group. Similarly, walking impacted ERP amplitudes and latencies, but the addition of flow did not further these impacts. The ASD group’s neural activity showed differences that were similar in direction, but weaker in magnitude to the addition of more demands (walking and flow), compared to the TD group. Conclusions There is a complex interplay between motor, cognitive, and sensory functions and those we provide evidence here that cross-domain integration of these in adolescents is different in ASD than those who are typically developing, wherein similar adjustments in the groups leads to an increase in accuracy for the TD group but not for the ASD group. Future research should further investigate these relationships with multi-modal methods like MoBI.