34 research outputs found
Intention Understanding in Autism
When we observe a motor act (e.g. grasping a cup) done by another individual, we extract, according to how the motor act is performed and its context, two types of information: the goal (grasping) and the intention underlying it (e.g. grasping for drinking). Here we examined whether children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are able to understand these two aspects of motor acts. Two experiments were carried out. In the first, one group of high-functioning children with ASD and one of typically developing (TD) children were presented with pictures showing hand-object interactions and asked what the individual was doing and why. In half of the “why” trials the observed grip was congruent with the function of the object (“why-use” trials), in the other half it corresponded to the grip typically used to move that object (“why-place” trials). The results showed that children with ASD have no difficulties in reporting the goals of individual motor acts. In contrast they made several errors in the why task with all errors occurring in the “why-place” trials. In the second experiment the same two groups of children saw pictures showing a hand-grip congruent with the object use, but within a context suggesting either the use of the object or its placement into a container. Here children with ASD performed as TD children, correctly indicating the agent's intention. In conclusion, our data show that understanding others' intentions can occur in two ways: by relying on motor information derived from the hand-object interaction, and by using functional information derived from the object's standard use. Children with ASD have no deficit in the second type of understanding, while they have difficulties in understanding others' intentions when they have to rely exclusively on motor cues
Personal Space Regulation in Childhood Autism Spectrum Disorders
People appropriately adjust the distance between themselves and others during social interaction, and they may feel
discomfort and move away when another person intrudes on their personal space. In the present study, we
investigated personal space in children with persistent difficulties in the domain of social behavior, such as children
with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and in children with typical development (TD). The stop-distance paradigm
was used to derive estimates of interpersonal distance, before and after a brief interaction with an unfamiliar adult
confederate. The results showed that ASD children felt comfortable at a greater distance compared to TD children.
Moreover, personal space shrunk after interaction with the confederate in TD children, but it failed to do so in ASD
children. These findings reveal that autism deeply affects the regulation of personal space, influencing both its size
and flexibility