Elsevier

Neuropsychologia

Volume 46, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 1041-1049
Neuropsychologia

Weak imitative performance is not due to a functional ‘mirroring’ deficit in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.11.013Get rights and content

Abstract

A large number of studies have demonstrated impaired performance on a range of imitation tasks among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The theory which suggests that these impairments are caused by a mirror system deficit has become increasingly prominent. Under this view, the capacity to match observed with executed actions or to ‘mirror’ is impaired in individuals with ASD. This study investigated the extent to which any impaired performance on imitation tasks is due to a functional mirroring deficit by comparing the performance of adults with ASD on imitative and non-imitative versions of the ‘pen-and-cups’ task. Participants in this task are required to observe transitive actions and to imitate them as fast as possible. Experiment 1 revealed impaired performance by high functioning adults with ASD on the imitative version of the task compared to IQ matched controls. The same participants then completed two non-imitative versions of the task in Experiment 2. The ‘geometric’ version of the task required participants to perform actions specified by the movement of abstract geometric shapes. The ‘verbal’ version of the task required participants to describe the observed actions. Adults with ASD were as impaired on each non-imitative version of the task as they were on the imitative version, suggesting that the impaired performance on the imitation task was not due to a functional mirroring deficit. Instead, more general factors contributed to the poor performance on this task. These findings add to the weight of evidence suggesting that impairments in imitation skills should not be cited as evidence consistent with a ‘mirror system deficit theory’ of ASD.

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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