Measuring Reciprocity in High Functioning Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Few instruments have been developed that measure impairments in reciprocity, a defining feature of autism. We introduce a new test assessing the quality of reciprocal behaviour: the interactive drawing test (IDT). Children and adolescents (n = 49) with and without high functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASD) were invited to collaborate with an experimenter in making a joint drawing. Within both groups the performance on collaborative reciprocity improved with age. However, compared to the control group, HFASD participants showed less collaborative and more basic reciprocal behaviour and preferred to draw their own objects. They were less tolerant of the experimenter’s input as well. Performance on the IDT was independent of estimated verbal IQ. Reciprocal behaviour in self-initiated objects corresponded with more parental reported autistic traits, while reciprocal behaviour in other-initiated objects corresponded with less autistic traits. The findings of this study suggest that IDT is a promising instrument to assess reciprocity

Abilities to explicitly and implicitly infer intentions from actions in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Previous research suggests that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) might be associated with impairments on implicit but not explicit mentalizing tasks. However, such comparisons are made difficult by the heterogeneity of stimuli and the techniques used to measure mentalizing capabilities. We tested the abilities of 34 individuals (17 with ASD) to derive intentions from others’ actions during both explicit and implicit tasks and tracked their eye-movements. Adults with ASD displayed explicit but not implicit mentalizing deficits. Adults with ASD displayed typical fixation patterns during both implicit and explicit tasks. These results illustrate an explicit mentalizing deficit in adults with ASD, which cannot be attributed to differences in fixation patterns

Emotional resonance deficits in autistic children

According to some theories imitation, defined as an action resonance mechanism, is deficient in autism. In contrast, other theories (e.g., the \u2018\u2018top down control of imitation\u2019\u2019 hypothesis) state that the problem is not in imitation per se but in the way social cues modulate imi- tative responses. In this study, 15 high-functioning children with autism and 15 matched controls were tested for their ability to imitate finger movements preceded by neutral and emotional facial expressions (primes) in a stimulus\u2013 response compatibility task. Hand movements performed after neutral expressions did not differ between the two groups (i.e., they both showed a normal imitative ten- dency). However, hand movements performed after emo- tional expressions significantly differed between the two populations, with controls, but not autistic spectrum dis- order (ASD), showing enhanced imitation in the emotional condition. This study supports the view that, in ASD, imitation abilities are spared but they are not modulated according to the emotional and social context. \ua9 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC