Weak imitative performance is not due to a functional ‘mirroring’ deficit in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Section snippets
Experiment 1
The aim of Experiment 1 was to establish that the particular sample of individuals with ASD who participated in this study demonstrated an impairment in a test of voluntary imitation. If so, then the specificity of this deficit could be tested in Experiment 2. Accordingly, Experiment 1 sought to replicate the finding of impaired imitation on the pen-and-cups task by individuals with ASD reported by Avikainen et al. (2003). Therefore, as in the study by Avikainen et al., two conditions were
Experiment 2
Experiment 1 demonstrated impaired performance on the pen-and-cups task by a group of adults with ASD on a test of voluntary imitation. Experiment 2 aimed to identify whether the poor performance shown in Experiment 1 was due to a deficit in functional mirroring – the capacity to match observed with executed actions – or whether it was due solely to impairments in other abilities, not specific to imitation tasks. Accordingly, the same participants who had completed Experiment 1 were asked to
General discussion
This study examined whether the impairments on tests of imitation which have frequently been reported in ASD (e.g. Avikainen et al., 2003, Rogers et al., 1996; see Williams et al., 2004 for review) represent a functional mirroring deficit, that is problems in matching observed with executed actions. To address this question the performance of a group of high-functioning adults with ASD was compared with that of matched, typically developing controls on an imitative, and two non-imitative,
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Uta Frith for practical support and helpful discussion at all stages of the study. GB was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and by a project grant awarded by the Medical Research Council to Professor Uta Frith, no. G9617036. CH was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme under contract number: NEST 012929. JL was supported by a research studentship from the Medical Research Council.
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