Vivanti Giacomo, Dissanayake Cheryl
Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria; Victorian Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre: The Margot Prior Wing, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria.
Autism Res. 2014 Jun;7(3):392-9. doi: 10.1002/aur.1376. Epub 2014 Apr 16.
Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show a diminished propensity to imitate others' actions, as well as a diminished sensitivity and responsivity to others' communicative cues, such as a direct gaze. However, it is not known whether failure to appreciate the communicative value of a direct gaze is associated with imitation abnormalities in this population. In this eye-tracking study, we investigated how 25 preschoolers with ASD, compared with 25 developmental and chronological age-matched children, imitate actions that are associated with a model's direct gaze versus averted gaze. We found that the model's direct gaze immediately prior to the demonstration increased the attention to the model and the propensity to imitate the demonstrated action in children without ASD. In contrast, preschoolers with ASD showed a similar propensity to look at the model's face and to imitate the demonstrated actions across the direct gaze and the averted gaze conditions. These data indicate that atypical imitation in ASD might be linked to abnormal processing of the model's communicative signals (such as a direct gaze) that modulate imitative behaviours in individuals without ASD. Autism Res 2014, 7: 392-399. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的个体模仿他人动作的倾向减弱，对他人的交流线索（如直接注视）的敏感度和反应性也降低。然而，尚不清楚无法理解直接注视的交流价值是否与该人群的模仿异常有关。在这项眼动追踪研究中，我们调查了25名患有ASD的学龄前儿童与25名发育年龄和实际年龄匹配的儿童相比，如何模仿与示范者的直接注视和回避注视相关的动作。我们发现，在示范前示范者的直接注视增加了无ASD儿童对示范者的关注以及模仿示范动作的倾向。相比之下，患有ASD的学龄前儿童在直接注视和回避注视条件下，看向示范者面部以及模仿示范动作的倾向相似。这些数据表明，ASD中的非典型模仿可能与示范者的交流信号（如直接注视）的异常处理有关，而这些信号会调节无ASD个体的模仿行为。《自闭症研究》2014年，7：392 - 399。©2014国际自闭症研究协会，威利期刊公司
