Heimann Mikael, Holmer Emil
Infant and Child Lab, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, The Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Front Psychol. 2021 Aug 27;12:701795. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.701795. eCollection 2021.
Almost all studies on neonatal imitation to date seem to have focused on typically developing children, and we thus lack information on the early imitative abilities of children who follow atypical developmental trajectories. From both practical and theoretical perspectives, these abilities might be relevant to study in children who develop a neuropsychiatric diagnosis later on or in infants who later show impaired ability to imitate. Theoretical in the sense that it will provide insight into the earliest signs of intersubjectivity-i.e., primary intersubjectivity-and how this knowledge might influence our understanding of children following atypical trajectories of development. Practical in the sense that it might lead to earlier detection of certain disabilities. In the present work, we screen the literature for empirical studies on neonatal imitation in children with an Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Down syndrome (DS) as well as present an observation of neonatal imitation in an infant that later was diagnosed with autism and a re-interpretation of previously published data on the phenomenon in a small group of infants with DS. Our findings suggest that the empirical observations to date are too few to draw any definite conclusions but that the existing data suggests that neonatal imitation can be observed both in children with ASD and in children with DS. Thus, neonatal imitation might not represent a useful predictor of a developmental deficit. Based on current theoretical perspectives advocating that neonatal imitation is a marker of primary intersubjectivity, we propose tentatively that an ability to engage in purposeful exchanges with another human being exists in these populations from birth.
几乎所有迄今为止关于新生儿模仿的研究似乎都集中在发育正常的儿童身上，因此我们缺乏关于那些发育轨迹异常的儿童早期模仿能力的信息。从实践和理论角度来看，研究这些能力对于那些后来被诊断患有神经精神疾病的儿童或那些后来模仿能力受损的婴儿可能具有重要意义。说它具有理论意义，是因为它将为主体间性的最早迹象（即原发性主体间性）提供见解，以及这种认识如何可能影响我们对发育轨迹异常儿童的理解。说它具有实践意义，是因为它可能会导致更早地发现某些残疾。在本研究中，我们筛选了关于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）或唐氏综合征（DS）儿童新生儿模仿的实证研究文献，并呈现了对一名后来被诊断为自闭症的婴儿的新生儿模仿观察，以及对一小群患有DS的婴儿中该现象先前发表数据的重新解读。我们的研究结果表明，迄今为止的实证观察太少，无法得出任何明确结论，但现有数据表明，在患有ASD的儿童和患有DS的儿童中都可以观察到新生儿模仿。因此，新生儿模仿可能并不是发育缺陷的一个有用预测指标。基于当前主张新生儿模仿是原发性主体间性标志的理论观点，我们初步提出，这些人群从出生起就具备与他人进行有目的交流的能力。
