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Slowing Down the Presentation of Facial and Body Movements Enhances Imitation Performance in Children with Severe Autism

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Abstract

Imitation deficits observed among individuals with autism could be partly explained by the excessive speed of biological movements to be perceived and then reproduced. Along with this assumption, slowing down the speed of presentation of these movements might improve their imitative performances. To test this hypothesis, 19 children with autism, 37 typically-developing children and 17 children with Down syndrome were asked to reproduce facial and body movements presented on a computer at a normal/ecological and two slowed down speeds. Our main result showed that a subgroup of individuals with severe autism better reproduced the movements when presented slowly than at the ecological speed. This finding opens a new window for comprehension and rehabilitation of perceptual and imitative deficits in autism.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by a grant from the multidisciplinary “Cognition et Traitement de l’Information” CNRS program and by an Orange Foundation grant to France Lainé for her PhD in psychology. We would like to thank the MA psychology students Hélène Teyssèdre, Camille DeMaupéou, Akselle DiBattista and Anne-Laurie NDjikessi for their help with the testing and data analysis. We are also grateful to Philippe Blache, director of the “Laboratoire Parole et Langage”, for his scientific contribution, and to Pr. Jacob A. Burack, Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, for his helpful comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre PsyCLE (Centre de Recherche en Psychologie de la Connaissance, du Langage et des Emotions), EA 3273, Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France

    France Lainé & Carole Tardif

  2. “Laboratoire Parole et Langage”, CNRS UMR 6057, Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Stéphane Rauzy & Bruno Gepner

  3. Fédération Autisme Vie Entière, Hôpital Montperrin, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Bruno Gepner

  4. Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, McGill University, 3700 McTavish Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 1Y2, Canada

    France Lainé

Authors
  1. France Lainé
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  2. Stéphane Rauzy
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  3. Carole Tardif
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  4. Bruno Gepner
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to France Lainé or Bruno Gepner.

Appendix

Appendix

Types of facial and body movements used in the study

  1. 1.

    Jump twice

  2. 2.

    Fold arms alternately at chest level

  3. 3.

    Raise arms above head

  4. 4.

    Strike each thigh with each hand in turn

  5. 5.

    One hand behind head, the elbow next to the torso, touch this elbow with the other hand, including a movement to the floor

  6. 6.

    Close eyes

  7. 7.

    Puff out cheeks

  8. 8.

    Stick tongue out

  9. 9.

    Open mouth a little

  10. 10.

    Close fist and move thumb up and down

  11. 11.

    Close hand (palm facing camera) into a fist, with the thumb over the other fingers

  12. 12.

    Stretch arms out in front of chest, with hands and arms parallel to the floor, and simultaneously and symmetrically move them in circles

  13. 13.

    Stretch out the fingers of one hand (horizontal, profile view). The thumb must then touch the other fingers one by one, beginning with the index and ending with the little finger, before returning to its initial position

  14. 14.

    With the palm facing the ceiling, join all fingers to form a kind of tunnel

  15. 15.

    Stretch out fingers, with palm facing the floor, then rotate hand until facing the ceiling

  16. 16.

    Hold arms at sides, then stretch them out towards the camera

  17. 17.

    Fold arm against torso, with index finger pointing to camera, then extend arm towards camera

  18. 18.

    Hold arm at side, then touch top of head with hand

  19. 19.

    Point to camera with index finger at head level, then touch nose

  20. 20.

    Hold arms folded at sides, then extend them until they are parallel with the floor, with hands perpendicular to arms

Sources of gestures:

  • Gestures 1, 2, 7 and 8 were derived from Beadle-Brown and Whiten’s study (2004).

  • Gestures 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 19 and 20 were inspired by K-ABC items (Kaufman and Kaufman 1993).

  • Gestures 3, 13 and 14 were inspired by PEP-R items (Schopler et al. 1994).

  • Gestures 12 and 16 were derived from Gesture Test items (Cermak et al. 1980).

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Lainé, F., Rauzy, S., Tardif, C. et al. Slowing Down the Presentation of Facial and Body Movements Enhances Imitation Performance in Children with Severe Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 41, 983–996 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1123-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1123-7

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