A new study out of 91亚色 shows autistic individuals more likely to use both hands

TORONTO, Jan. 19, 2026 鈥� Most people take for granted which hand they use to reach for a cup of coffee or a puzzle piece. However, a new study out of 91亚色 suggests that for autistic individuals, which hand they use for various tasks is highly variable, which points to profound differences in the brain.

The research, published today in the journal Autism Research, found that even autistic adults who are right-handed demonstrate a reduced specialization of hand use and more distinctive movement patterns when compared to non-autistic peers.

鈥淗andedness is one of the most visible markers of how our brain's left and right hemispheres specialize for different tasks,鈥� says 91亚色 Associate Professor , who conducted the study with lead author and Master鈥檚 student Emily Fewster. 鈥淚n the neurotypical population, about 90 per cent of people show a strong right-hand dominance, reflecting the left hemisphere鈥檚 specialization for fine motor skills. Our study shows that in autism, this specialization is less pronounced, leading to a unique and highly individualized motor signature.鈥�

The LEGO Building Task

To observe these behaviours in a real-world context, researchers asked 54 right-handed adults, half with an autism diagnosis, to recreate complex LEGO models. Unlike traditional questionnaires that ask which hand someone uses to write, this naturalistic task allowed researchers to track thousands of dynamic movements in 3D space.

By analyzing how people actually move during the LEGO building task, researchers found that the right-handedness of autistic participants鈥� function quite differently than that of the non-autistic participants. Despite both groups identifying as right-handed, the autistic participants used their right hand much less often for grasping and did not show the typical dominant preference for using their right hand when reaching across their body.

The autistic participants also tended to shrink their workspace by focusing on blocks placed closer to them, suggesting a more cautious or individualized strategy for managing the space around them. In addition, their movements followed highly unique, idiosyncratic paths. While non-autistic participants tended to follow a similar sequence of actions, each autistic participant moved in a distinct, more variable way.

Together, these findings suggest that the autistic brain organizes movement in a less specialized, more variable manner than previously understood.

Implications for Earlier Identification

While the study focuses on brain organization, these "motor signatures" have significant clinical potential. Because motor skills often emerge in infancy, long before the complex communication skills typically used to diagnose autism, identifying these subtle motor differences could open a window for much earlier support.

鈥淪tandard questionnaires often miss these nuances because they don鈥檛 capture the dynamic nature of real-life movement,鈥� says Freud. 鈥淏y looking at how people actually move in a natural setting, we can identify objective markers that might eventually help us provide more tailored support strategies much earlier in development.鈥�

The researchers suggest that this "noisy" or variable motor processing supports the theory that autism involves broader, less specialized neural representations across the brain.

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TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2023 鈥� Faced with images that break the expected pattern, like a do not enter sign where a stop sign is expected, how does the brain react and learn compared to being shown images which match what was predicted?

That was the question a team, including 91亚色, set out to answer. A long-standing theory suggests the brain learns a predictive model of the world and its internal predictions are updated when incoming sensory data proves them wrong. However, what the researchers found surprised them, says 91亚色 Faculty of Science Associate Professor Joel Zylberberg, co-corresponding author of the newly published paper.

鈥淭esting this theory has always been a challenge,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e needed to be able to measure the top-down signals to the sensory areas of the brain over long periods of time to show how the brain learns new sensory input patterns.鈥�

Using a mouse model, the researchers displayed images of visual patterns over multiple days, then presented other images that violated those patterns, while measuring the brain鈥檚 activity in the visual cortex, where visual information from the retina is processed. The idea was to test how the neurons reacted to the new pattern-violating sensory information.

Several of the researchers, including Zylberberg, are Fellows in the 鈥檚 Learning in Machines and Brains group, which conducted the research as part of the Allen Institute for Brain Science鈥檚 Brain Observatory and its OpenScope program. OpenScope has been compared to an observatory where astronomers work together to study the universe, only this time researchers are sharing data to study the brain.

The measurements were taken at the neurons鈥� distal apical dendrites of the visual cortex, which receive top-down signals, and at their cell bodies, which receive bottom-up signals. They wanted to know if the distal apical dendrites processed visual stimuli differently from their cell bodies when the signals both matched and violated expected patterns.

It turns out, the brain鈥檚 response to image patterns that violate the brain鈥檚 predictions, evolves differently over time when compared to pattern-matching images.

鈥淪urprisingly, the distal apical dendrites responses grew significantly over time becoming increasingly sensitive to inputs that violate the patterns, while the cell bodies lost their initially strong sensitivity,鈥� says Zylberberg, a computational neuroscientist. 鈥淭his finding could offer critical insight into sensory computation and predictive learning in the brain.鈥�

The finding suggests that the pattern-violating stimuli drove the changes and different forms of pattern-violating stimuli may elicit different kinds of prediction errors than expected. It points to a component of the brain that could have a distinct and important role in sensory learning not previously known.

鈥淜nowing how the brain processes new visual sensory information is important for developing better machine learning algorithms and applications which could hopefully help restore people鈥檚 sight in the future,鈥� says Zylberberg.

The paper, , was published today in JNeurosci, the Journal of Neuroscience.

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The post 91亚色 U led Connected Minds explores how new technologies affect our brains, society and the most vulnerable appeared first on News@91亚色.

Together with Queen鈥檚 University, the cross-disciplinary work is backed by $105.7M in federal funding through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund

TORONTO, April 28, 2023 鈥� Is an equitable world that includes humans and machines possible? 91亚色 researchers believe it must be and have set out to make it so through a first of its kind interdisciplinary research initiative called Connected Minds: Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society.

From universities to industries, hospitals and policymakers, artists and Indigenous communities, 91亚色鈥檚 Connected Minds will engage 50+ community partners and research collaborators over seven years supported by a historic $318.4 million in funding. Connected Minds has received a combined , announced earlier today by the Government of Canada. Of that, 91亚色 received $82.8 million and institutional partner Queen鈥檚 University received $22.8 million.

Led by 91亚色, Connected Minds brings together experts in multiple fields, including humanities, engineering, law, and life sciences, located across eight 91亚色 Faculties and three Queen鈥檚 Faculties. Researchers will examine the ways in which emerging technology, like Artificial Intelligence, is transforming and entangling society 鈥� dubbed the 鈥榯echno-social collective.鈥� Researchers will work to discover how to balance both the potential risks and benefits for humanity.  

Some of the program鈥檚 proposed projects include explorations into a more inclusive metaverse, virtual reality and community organizing, neurotechnologies for healthy aging, Indigenous data sovereignty, and how human brain function changes when people interact with AI versus each other.  

In addition to supporting interdisciplinary teams of researchers conducting research on promoting a healthy, resilient, and just techno-social collective, Connected Minds will fund 35 strategic faculty hires, partner-focused seed, team, and prototyping grants, knowledge mobilization and commercialization activities, and an ambitious multi-institutional micro-credential training program with 385 trainees and cross-sector stakeholders. All activities will require interdisciplinary participation, and projects that benefit Indigenous and other equity-deserving groups will be prioritized.

A key structural component of the program is an Indigenous-led focus and will feature a dedicated Indigenous research space on 91亚色鈥檚 Keele Campus, as well as employing an overarching decolonization, equity, diversity and inclusion (DEDI) strategy.

The program鈥檚 operations will involve a directorate led by internationally renowned neuroscientist Prof. , as Scientific Director, along with intellectual property and technology law expert Prof.  , as Vice-Director and Indigenous health scholar Prof. as Associate Director. Engineer and neuroscientist Prof. joins as the Vice-Director from Queen鈥檚 University.  

The governance structure of Connected Minds includes a Board of Directors to supervise the program ramp up, oversee its progress towards achieving strategic goals and maintain fiduciary responsibility, an External Advisory Board to advise on the overall strategic direction, knowledge mobilization and commercialization activities, and an Indigenous Advisory Circle to counsel all aspects of Indigenous engagement, including issues of privacy and data sovereignty.

The total value of the Connected Minds projects is $318.4 million with the remaining funds, including in-kind contributions, being contributed largely by multi-sector partners, municipal governments, and collaborating institutions.

QUOTES

鈥淩eceiving this second CFREF award in the last two competitions reflects 91亚色鈥檚 leadership as a research-intensive university that from its inception has understood the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in tackling complex, global problems. Connected Minds is particularly timely as we consider the implications of AI for creating a more equitable and inclusive world.鈥� 鈥� Rhonda Lenton, 91亚色 president and vice-chancellor

鈥�91亚色 is an international leader in interdisciplinary research involving artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies, social justice, and human science like neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. The government鈥檚 substantial investment will unite 91亚色鈥檚 incredible strengths with Queen鈥檚 health specialties to chart new territory in socially responsible, community-engaged research for a rapidly changing digital world.鈥� 鈥� Amir Asif, 91亚色 vice-president, Research and Innovation

鈥淭he current technological revolution will have transformative positive impacts, and likely unintended negative impacts, on humanity for generations to come. To predict these impacts and steer toward positive outcomes, one requires transdisciplinary expertise, multisector community engagement, and research and training at levels that can only occur in a large-scale program. We thank CFREF for providing Connected Minds with the resources to lead Canada and the world in this timely and critical enterprise.鈥� 鈥� Doug Crawford, 91亚色 Distinguished Research Professor in Neuroscience and inaugural Scientific Director of Connected Minds 

鈥淣ew technologies are developing exponentially and systems like the law are simply not keeping up. 91亚色鈥檚 motto, tentanda via, the way must be tried, guides us, in everything we will do.  We believe our inclusive, interdisciplinary approach that aligns with the UN sustainable development goals makes 91亚色 the perfect place for anticipating the way humans and machines will, and should, connect in an equitable society.  This way must be tried.鈥� 鈥� Pina D鈥橝gostino, director and founder of 91亚色鈥檚 IP Innovation Clinic at Osgoode Hall Law School and Vice Director of Connected Minds. 

鈥淐onnected Minds is informed by Indigenous perspectives and priorities to achieve outcomes that are culturally relevant and responsive to Indigenous ways of being and doing that impact how we think about and engage in life, health, and education. Our work will seek to address the unexpected consequences of technological innovation, like the growing digital divide for Indigenous communities to access remote health care, and issues of data sovereignty, ownership and digital colonialism.鈥� 鈥� Sean Hillier, director of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Indigenous Knowledges & Languages and Associate Director of Connected Minds

鈥淭he Connected Minds project builds on a history of partnership and collaboration between Queen鈥檚 and 91亚色. Each institution brings unique but complementary research strengths to bear on the important challenges and opportunities that come with disruptive technologies and their impact on Canadian and global citizens.鈥濃�� Nancy Ross, vice principal research at Queen鈥檚 University

鈥淚 look forward to working with Indigenous, community and industrial partners to develop more equitable and socially responsible research outputs for the benefit of all. I am also excited about the many educational and outreach opportunities that Connected Minds will produce 鈥� from school programs to graduate training and professional skills development. We want to democratize education and access to knowledge, with the aim of spreading a new culture of innovation for a more equitable, inclusive, and healthy society.鈥� 鈥� Gunnar Blohm, Professor in Computational Neuroscience and Vice Director of Connected Minds

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For more information:

91亚色 U media contact:

Emina Gamulin

egamulin@yorku.ca

437-217-6362

Queen鈥檚 media contact:

Julie Brown

brown.julie@queensu.ca

343-363-2763

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