Dissociation of mirroring and mentalising systems in autism

► Adults with/without autism observed rational and irrational actions during fMRI. ► Anterior intraparietal sulcus showed equivalent responses in both groups. ► Supplementary motor area responded to action observation only in typicals. ► Medial prefrontal cortex differentiated action rationality only in typicals. ► Mirroring (aIPS) and mentalising (mPFC) brain area dissociate in autism.