Explanipedia

Optimising general practice support for autistic adults: a realist review protocol Open

Kelly Birtwell, Claire Planner, Tracy Epton, Emma Gowen, Emily Corsellis , et al. · 2025

Understanding eye care access for autistic adults and families: A convergent mixed-methods study Open

Chris Edwards, Abigail M. A. Love, Ru Ying Cai, Paul A. Constable, D. Love , et al. · 2025

Autistic people face persistent barriers to accessing healthcare, yet little is known about their experiences receiving eye care, despite elevated rates of vision conditions. This convergent mixed-methods study explored the eye care experi…

Perception of biological motion and actions in Autism: A systematic review Open

Ying Bai, Ellen Poliakoff, Emma Gowen · 2025

Detecting and recognising the Biological Motion (BM) of other people provides essential information to understand others' actions and intentions, thus facilitating social interactions. Difficulties with social interaction are a hallmark of…

A mixed methods exploration of motor imagery in autistic and non-autistic adults: Diverse experiences and implications for interventions Open

Molly Brillinger, Ying Bai, April Karlinsky, Timothy N. Welsh, Ellen Poliakoff , et al. · 2025

Research on motor imagery (MI) in non-autistic individuals suggests that there are shared neural circuitries between imagery and execution. The relationship between imagined and executed movements, and the use of MI in autistic adults is p…

Speed-accuracy trade-offs in action perception, motor imagery, and execution of hand movements in autistic and non-autistic adults Open

Ying Bai, Molly Brillinger, April Karlinsky, Ellen Poliakoff, Timothy N. Welsh , et al. · 2025

“Our Existence as Whole Individuals Does Not Evaporate at Age 50”: A Mixed Methods Study of Autistic Adults’ Perspectives on Growing Older Open

Kelly Birtwell, Donna Bramwell, Emma Gowen, Laura Brown, Lucy Hulme , et al. · 2025

Background: Older autistic adults are at risk of social isolation and are more likely to experience physical and mental health conditions compared with non-autistic older adults. However, the needs and experiences of older autistic adults,…

Automatic Imitation of Hand Movements in Clinical and Neurodiverse Populations Open

Ellen Poliakoff, Emma Gowen · 2024

Automatic imitation is related to both motor and social-cognitive processes and hence is highly relevant to a range of clinical and neurodiverse populations including neurodegenerative, psychiatric or mental health, and neurodevelopmental …

Action Perception, Motor Imagery and Execution of Hand Movements in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults Open

Ying Bai, Molly Brillinger, April Karlinsky, Ellen Poliakoff, Timothy N. Welsh , et al. · 2024

Action perception, execution, and imagery share motor-cognitive processes. Given prevalent motor coordination difficulties in autism, the processes of action perception and imagery may also be altered. This study investigated whether autis…

Stimulus specificity in combined action observation and motor imagery of typing Open

Camilla Woodrow-Hill, Emma Gowen, Stefan Vogt, Eve Edmonds, Ellen Poliakoff · 2024

Combined action observation and motor imagery (AO + MI) can improve movement execution (ME) in healthy adults and certain patient populations. However, it is unclear how the specificity of the observation component during AO + MI influence…

Motor imagery in autism: a systematic review Open

Emma Gowen, Eve Edmonds, Ellen Poliakoff · 2024

Introduction Motor Imagery (MI) is when an individual imagines performing an action without physically executing that action and is thought to involve similar neural processes used for execution of physical movement. As motor coordination …

How do autistic adults experience ageing? A qualitative interview study Open

Rebecca Aitken, Katherine Berry, Emma Gowen, Laura Brown · 2024

BackgroundDespite increasing numbers of people aging with autism, little is known about the ageing experiences and support needs of middle-aged and older autistic adults. This is important, especially as autistic people have higher rates o…

The diversity of speech-perception difficulties among autistic individuals Open

G. J. Bendo, Alexandra Sturrock, Graham Hanks, Christopher J. Plack, Emma Gowen , et al. · 2024

Background & aims Communicative and sensory differences are core autistic traits, yet speech-perception abilities and difficulties among autistic individuals remain poorly understood. Laboratory studies have produced mixed and inconclusive…

AGEING WELL WITH AUTISM Open

Laura Brown, Rebecca Aitken, Katherine Berry, Emma Gowen · 2023

Autism is characterized by patterns of neurological development that can cause differences in social interactions and sensory processing; restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior; and difficulties in identifying and describing feelin…

Stimulus specificity in combined action observation and motor imagery of typing Open

Camilla Woodrow-Hill, Emma Gowen, Stefan Vogt, Eve Edmonds, Ellen Poliakoff · 2023

Combined action observation and motor imagery (AO+MI) can improve movement execution in healthy adults and certain patient populations. However, it is unclear how the specificity of the observation component during AO+MI influences perform…

Observation and imitation of object-directed hand movements in Parkinson’s disease Open

Judith Bek, Emma Gowen, Stefan Vogt, Trevor J. Crawford, Ellen Poliakoff · 2023

When 2 become 1: Autistic simultaneity judgements about asynchronous audiovisual speech Open

Daniel Poole, Emma Gowen, Ellen Poliakoff, Anna Lambrechts, Luke Jones · 2023

It has been proposed that autistic people experience a temporal distortion whereby the temporal binding window of multisensory integration is extended. Research to date has focused on autistic children so whether these differences persist …

From “one big clumsy mess” to “a fundamental part of my character.” Autistic adults’ experiences of motor coordination Open

Emma Gowen, Louis Earley, Adeeba Waheed, Ellen Poliakoff · 2023

Altered motor coordination is common in autistic individuals affecting a range of movements such as manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, balance and gait. However, motor coordination is not routinely assessed leading to undiagnosed and…

Object-directed actions in Parkinson’s disease: Observation and imitation of hand movements Open

Judith Bek, Emma Gowen, Stefan Vogt, Trevor J. Crawford, Ellen Poliakoff · 2023

Action observation and imitation may facilitate movement and increase functional independence in Parkinson’s disease (PD). People with PD have been found to imitate intransitive actions in a similar manner to neurologically healthy older a…

The blind men and the elephant: The case for a transdiagnostic approach to initiation Open

Karen Leneh Buckle, Ellen Poliakoff, Emma Gowen · 2023

Difficulty initiating voluntary action is an under-recognized and often invisible impairment in various psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, and neurological conditions. Understanding the commonalities of volition impairments across diagnoses …

From “one big clumsy mess” to “a fundamental part of my character.” Autistic adults’ experiences of motor coordination Open

Emma Gowen, Louis Earley, Adeeba Waheed, Ellen Poliakoff · 2022

Note: This article has since been published: Gowen, E., Earley, L., Waheed, A., & Poliakoff, E. (2023). From "one big clumsy mess" to "a fundamental part of my character." Autistic adults' experiences of motor coordination. PloS one, 1…

Measuring the prediction of observed actions using an occlusion paradigm: Comparing autistic and <span>non‐autistic</span> adults Open

Emma Gowen, Ellen Poliakoff, Hayley Shepherd, Waltraud Stadler · 2022

Action prediction involves observing and predicting the actions of others and plays an important role in social cognition and interacting with others. It is thought to use simulation, whereby the observers use their own motor system to pre…

Autism‐friendly eyecare: Developing recommendations for service providers based on the experiences of autistic adults Open

Ketan Parmar, Catherine Porter, Christine Dickinson, Peter Baimbridge, James Pelham , et al. · 2022

Purpose Autistic people face significant barriers when accessing healthcare services. Eye examinations present unique challenges. Accessibility of this healthcare sector for autistic people has not been investigated previously. The aim of …

Editorial: Autism: Innovations and Future Directions in Psychological Research Open

Emma Gowen, Laura Crane, Christine M. Falter‐Wagner · 2022

EDITORIAL article Front. Psychol., 17 January 2022Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.832008

Chasing the conversation: Autistic experiences of speech perception Open

Alexandra Sturrock, Hannah Guest, Graham Hanks, G. J. Bendo, Christopher J. Plack , et al. · 2022

Background and aims Humans communicate primarily through spoken language and speech perception is a core function of the human auditory system. Among the autistic community, atypical sensory reactivity and social communication difficulties…

Eye Gaze and Perceptual Adaptation to Audiovisual Degraded Speech Open

Briony Banks, Emma Gowen, Kevin J. Munro, Patti Adank · 2021

Purpose Visual cues from a speaker's face may benefit perceptual adaptation to degraded speech, but current evidence is limited. We aimed to replicate results from previous studies to establish the extent to which visual speech cues can le…

Action Imagery and Observation in Neurorehabilitation for Parkinson’s Disease (ACTION-PD): Development of a User-Informed Home Training Intervention to Improve Functional Hand Movements Open

Judith Bek, orcid, Paul S. Holmes, Chesney E. Craig, Zoë C. Franklin , et al. · 2021

Background. Parkinson's disease (PD) causes difficulties with hand movements, which few studies have addressed therapeutically. Training with action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) improves performance in healthy individuals, parti…

Action Imagery and Observation in Neurorehabilitation for Parkinson’s Disease (ACTION-PD): Development of a User-Informed Home Training Intervention to Improve Functional Hand Movements Open

Judith Bek, Paul S. Holmes, Chesney E. Craig, Zoë C. Franklin, Matthew Sullivan , et al. · 2021

Background. Parkinson’s disease (PD) causes difficulties with hand movements, which few studies have addressed therapeutically. Training with action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) improves performance in healthy individuals, parti…

“No Way Out Except From External Intervention”: First-Hand Accounts of Autistic Inertia Open

Karen Leneh Buckle, Kathy Leadbitter, Ellen Poliakoff, Emma Gowen · 2021

This study, called for by autistic people and led by an autistic researcher, is the first to explore ‘autistic inertia,’ a widespread and often debilitating difficulty acting on their intentions. Previous research has considered initiation…

Visual Sensory Experiences From the Viewpoint of Autistic Adults Open

Ketan Parmar, Catherine Porter, Christine Dickinson, James Pelham, Peter Baimbridge , et al. · 2021

Although previous research has investigated altered sensory reactivity in autistic individuals, there has been no specific focus on visual sensory experiences, particularly in adults. Using qualitative methods, this study aimed to characte…

Time perception in autistic adults: Interval and event timing judgements do not differ from non-autistics Open

Daniel Poole, Martin Casassus, Emma Gowen, Ellen Poliakoff, Luke Jones · 2021

It has previously been proposed that autistic people have problems with timing which underlie the behavioural and cognitive differences in the condition. However, the nature of this postulated timing issue has not been well specified and t…

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