Imitation and Pantomime in High-Functioning Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

A study was designed to test 2 alternative hypotheses--a symbolic hypothesis and an executive function hypotheses--for the imitation and pantomime deficits found in previous studies of autism. The subjects were 17 adolescent high-functioning subjects with autism spectrum disorders and 15 clinical comparison subjects who were matched on chronological age and verbal IQ. Meaning and sequence were manipulated in facial and manual imitation tasks. Sequence was manipulated in the pantomime and control tasks. Recognition memory and motor control tasks were matched to the experimental tasks. The results provided no support for the symbolic deficit hypothesis; meaning aided rather than hindered the performance of the group with autism. Partial support for the executive deficit hypothesis was found. There were no group differences on motor control tasks, and few on the memory control tasks, arguing against deficits in motor initiation, basic motor coordination, or visual recognition memory.

Goal-Directed and Goal-Less Imitation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Previous work has provided evidence for intact goal-directed imitation in autism, but an impaired ability to imitate actions that do not have a goal or are meaningless (Hamilton et al 2007;Hobson and Lee 1999;Hobson and Hobson 2008;Rogers et al 1996;Stone et al 1997;Williams et al 2004). The findings of the current work are in general agreement with these previous studies, but our examination of quantitative hand and eye movements have extended the understanding of imitation in ASD in several ways.…”

“…Numerous studies have documented that individuals with ASD have difficulties with imitation, suggesting that there may be a link between imitation and social ability (Rogers et al 2003;Williams et al 2001;Gowen et al 2008;Leighton et al 2008;Iacoboni and Dapretto 2006;Vanvuchelen et al 2007;Williams et al 2004). Of particular relevance for the current work is the observation that imitation directed towards goals appears relatively intact compared to goal-less imitation or imitation of meaningless actions (Hamilton et al 2007;Hobson and Lee 1999;Hobson and Hobson 2008;Rogers et al 1996;Stone et al 1997;Williams et al 2004). In the current study, we explore this apparent dichotomy further, by measuring eye and hand movements during goal-directed and goal-less imitation.…”

Motor Coordination in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Synthesis and Meta-Analysis

“…ASD studies without a typically developing control group were not analyzed further. Nine studies did not report typically developing control groups (Ghaziuddin and Butler 1998;Green et al 2002;Manjiviona and Prior 1995;Martos Perez and Fortea Sevilla 1993;Miyahara et al 1997;Page and Boucher 1998;Provost et al 2007a;Rogers et al 1996;Wisdom et al 2007). Forty-five studies included a typically developing control comparison group.…”

“…Early views stressed that children with ASD may have similar motor development (Hallett et al 1993;Mayes and Calhoun 2003) or perhaps even more advanced motor skills than their peers (Johnson and Myers 2007;Rimland 1964). However, more frequently reported, ASD is associated with greater clumsiness, motor coordination abnormalities, postural instability, and poor performance on standardized tests of motor functioning (Bauman 1992;Ghaziuddin and Butler 1998;Jones and Prior 1985;Kohen-Raz et al 1992;Molloy et al 2003;Rapin 1997;Rogers et al 1996;Vilensky et al 1981). Further complicating our understanding of the underlying motor features is that several studies failed to detect differences between children with ASD and those with learning disabilities or mental retardation (Morin and Reid 1985), general developmental delay (Provost et al 2007b), and language disorders (Noterdaeme et al 2002) across reflexive, intentional, fine and gross motor tasks.…”

Motor Function of Autistic Children: What Type of Control?

“…Therefore, the cognitive neuroscience explained autism by a series of deficits in language, imitation or in emotional functions [7,[15][16][17][18]. These deteriorate cognitive mechanisms were well known for their important role in the implicit social norms and codes learning [2].…”