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The Neurodiversity of Motor Stereotypies: Elucidating Common Brain-Behavior Relationships Across Sensory Landscapes

Award Number: F31MH142089
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2029

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The Neurodiversity of Motor Stereotypies: Elucidating Common Brain-Behavior Relationships Across Sensory Landscapes - Project Summary We live in an ever-constant Ʋuctuation of sensory input, and navigating this can be easily overwhelming. To remedy this, our brains have devised sensory sampling behaviors to rhythmically parse out this input and optimize sensory processing by weighting sensory experiences time-locked to behavior while dampening behaviorally unrelated neural activity. Such “active sensing” is commonly achieved through rhythmic behaviors such as sniffing and saccadic eye movements and can be mechanistically explained by the combination of neural entrainment and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). Neural entrainment describes the alignment of peak neural excitability to the phase of self-generated sensory input, allowing the brain to better predict and process incoming information. This entrainment can further improve sensory processing through PAC, in which the timing of lower-frequency oscillations (e.g., delta) modulates more localized higher-frequency oscillations (e.g., gamma) associated with sensory processing, enhancing coordination across different brain regions and frequencies. Rhythmic behaviors exist in many forms, with some being less obvious in sensory function, such as motor stereotypies (STY). STY are highly rhythmic and stereotyped behaviors prevalent in autism but also observed in the neurotypical (NT) population, albeit less frequently. Traditionally presumed purposeless, flrst-person accounts by autistics and NTs suggest STY serve as coping behaviors to reduce sensory under/overstimulation from the environment. Our flrst aim probes the relationship between rhythmic behavior and environmental sensory stimulation across diagnosis. We will collect motion-tracking data and ambulatory EEG from autistic and non-autistic children and adolescents (5–17 years) while they explore augmented reality environments of low, medium, and high sensory stimulation. In pursuit of this goal, we will use video recordings and motion-tracking data to build a database for the automated classiflcation of motor stereotypies. We hypothesize motor rhythmicity differences across diagnostic groups and environmental conditions, expecting increased rhythmic movement in autistics compared to neurotypicals, and increased motor rhythmicity during low- and high-sensory stimulation conditions. Our second aim explores the neural mechanisms underlying the sensory processing beneflts of STY. We hypothesize that STY serve an active sensing role in both autistics and NTs by entraining low-frequency neural oscillations, with reduced entrainment and delta-gamma PAC in autistic participants. This novel framework of STY may inform how we design sensory environments to tailor individual sensory needs and assist autistics in developing more efficient sensing behaviors.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $34,980 )
2026	2026	VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY	110 21ST AVE S	NASHVILLE	TN	37203	DAVIDSON	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	3/25/2026	NEW	$34,980
														Subtotal = $34,980

Grand Total All Awards = $34,980

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The Neurodiversity of Motor Stereotypies: Elucidating Common Brain-Behavior Relationships Across Sensory Landscapes

Award Number: F31MH142089

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2029

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