| Developmental dyspraxia is a disorder of impaired imitation and motor planning. Although believed to be of neurological origin, the neural correlates have not been investigated. One neural system believed to be essential to imitation is the human mirror neuron system. This work postulates that differences in the structure and function of the mirror neuron system may underlie imitation and motor planning impairments, or developmental dyspraxia. First, the current work explored function in the mirror neuron system by comparing brain activity in a group with developmental dyspraxia to a typically developing group using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Second, microanatomical properties of the structural connections between nodes of the mirror neuron system were explored using diffusion tensor imaging. Third, thickness of the cortical gray matter in mirror neuron system regions was measured and compared to imitation skill. Finally, a model is postulated to explain how all of these neural properties may relate to one another and suggestions for future research and implications for treatment are discussed. The current work is the first to comprehensively address, in an hypothesis-driven manner, multiple structural and functional neural components of the mirror neuron system that may underlie developmental dyspraxia. |
