Event overview
Dr. Debbie Custance, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London
Title: Object-directed imitation in children with autism
Abstract:
Although children with autism seem to possess a deficit in action imitation, previous research suggests that they may be spared in the realm of imitating action performed on and with objects. However, it is possible that the children in previous studies were emulating (learning about the various properties of objects) rather than imitating (reproducing the motor actions used). 20, 7 to 14 year old children with autism and 20 age and IQ matched control children took part in three experiments on imitation. In experiment 1, the children were presented with 16 different items for imitation: 8 performed with hands only and 8 with objects. On half of the items, the children were asked to respond immediately after the demonstration and on the remaining half they were asked to respond after a 30 second delay. The children with autism imitated significantly less well than the controls both on object and non-object related items. They also, unlike the controls, were more likely to forget whole or parts of items after a delay. In experiment 2, the children were presented with a raking task. A pronged rake had to be manipulated in a certain manner in order to be able to pull a hollow plastic egg containing a prize into reach. The children with autism watched the demonstrations and imitated the techniques shown to the same extent as controls. In experiment 3, the children were shown six different puzzle boxes. In a repeated measures design, the children were presented with four different conditions in which the children saw either 1. a full demonstration, 2. a demonstrator mime the relevant actions adjacent the puzzle box, 3. the box appear to open itself (it was actually operated by invisible wires) or 4. a demonstrator perform random actions on the surface of the box. Although there were significant inter-condition differences, there were no significant differences in the performance of the children with autism and the controls. The main difference between experiment 1 and experiments 2 and 3 is the degree of arbitrariness of the items shown. We suggest that children with autism may not possess a deficit in imitation per se, but may find it difficult to encode, recall and respond to apparently arbitrary demonstrations.
Dates & times
Date | Time | Add to calendar |
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27 Nov 2008 | 4:00pm - 7:15pm |
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