Atypical biological motion kinematics are represented by complementary lower-level and top-down processes during imitation learning

Hayes, Spencer J.; Dutoy, Chris; Elliott, Digby; Gowen, Emma; Bennett, Simon J.

doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.10.005

Cited by 17 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Nonetheless, both groups did scale hand and eye kinematics such that peak velocity occurred earlier in the movement trajectory when imitating the atypical compared to the typical model. As well as replicating previous findings in neurotypical participants ( Andrew et al, 2016 ; Hayes, Dutoy, et al, 2016 ), this is the first evidence showing that autistic individuals can imitate novel atypical biological kinematics that would not have existed in their motor repertoire.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Facilitating sensorimotor integration via blocked practice underpins imitation learning of atypical biological kinematics in autism spectrum disorder

Foster

Bennett

Causer

et al. 2020

Autism

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The reduced efficacy of voluntary imitation in autism is suggested to be underpinned by differences in sensorimotor processing. We examined whether the imitation of novel atypical biological kinematics by autistic adults is enhanced by imitating a model in a predictable blocked practice trial order. This practice structure is expected to facilitate trial-to-trial sensorimotor processing, integration and encoding of biological kinematics. The results showed that neurotypical participants were generally more effective at imitating the biological kinematics across all experimental phases. Importantly, and compared to a pre-test where imitation was performed in a randomised (unpredictable) trial order, the autistic participants learned to imitate the atypical kinematics more effectively following an acquisition phase of repeatedly imitating the same model during blocked practice. Data from the post-test showed that autistic participants remained effective at imitating the atypical biological kinematics when the models were subsequently presented in a randomised trial order. These findings show that the reduced efficacy of voluntary imitation in autism can be enhanced during learning by facilitating trial-to-trial processing and integration of sensorimotor information using blocked practice. Lay Abstract Autistic people sometimes find it difficult to copy another person’s movement accurately, especially if the movement is unfamiliar or novel (e.g. to use chop sticks). In this study, we found that autistic people were generally less accurate at copying a novel movement than non-autistic people. However, by making a small adjustment and asking people to copy this movement for a set number of attempts in a predictable manner, we showed that autistic people did successfully learn to copy a new movement. This is a very important finding for autistic people because rather than thinking they cannot copy new movements, all that needs to be considered is for parents/guardians, teachers and/or support workers to make a small adjustment so that learning occurs in a predictable manner for new skills to be successfully acquired through copying. The implications from this study are wide-ranging as copying (imitation) and motor learning are important developmental processes for autistic infants and children to acquire in order to interact within the world. Therefore, practising these behaviours in the most effective way can certainly help the developmental pathway.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Facilitating sensorimotor integration via blocked practice underpins imitation learning of atypical biological kinematics in autism spectrum disorder

Foster

Bennett

Causer

et al. 2020

Autism

Self Cite

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“…In addition, in research with both healthy individuals and apraxia patients, there is little use of motion-tracking for characterising imitation in an objective fashion (with some exceptions, e.g. Braadbaart et al, 2012;Campione & Gentilucci, 2011;Gold et al, 2008;Hayes et al, 2016;Hermsd€ orfer et al, 1996;Kr€ uger et al, 2014;Pan & Hamilton, 2015;Reader & Holmes, 2015;Sacheli et al, 2012Sacheli et al, , 2013Sacheli et al, , 2015aWild et al, 2010;Williams et al, 2013), despite the fact that kinematics are an important element of social interactions (Krishnan-Barman et al, 2017). With this in mind, we used a two-person motion-tracking approach in this experiment to better understand the links between actor and imitator behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals a role for the left inferior parietal lobule in matching observed kinematics during imitation

Reader

Royce

Marsh

et al. 2018

Eur J of Neuroscience

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Apraxia (a disorder of complex movement) suggests that the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) plays a role in kinematic or spatial aspects of imitation, which may be particularly important for meaningless (i.e. unfamiliar intransitive) actions. Mirror neuron theories indicate that the IPL is part of a frontoparietal system that can support imitation by linking observed and stored actions through visuomotor matching, and have less to say about different subregions of the left IPL, or how different types of action (i.e. meaningful or meaningless) are processed for imitation. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to bridge this gap and better understand the roles of the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and left angular gyrus (AG) in imitation. We also examined whether these areas are differentially involved in meaningful and meaningless action imitation. We applied rTMS over the left SMG, over the left AG or during a no-rTMS baseline condition, and then asked participants to imitate a confederate's actions whilst the arm and hand movements of both individuals were motion-tracked. rTMS over both the left SMG and the left AG reduced the velocity of participants' finger movements relative to the actor during imitation of finger gestures, regardless of action meaning. Our results support recent claims in apraxia and confirm a role for the left IPL in kinematic processing during gesture imitation, regardless of action meaning.

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“…Whilst previous work has quantitatively examined the kinematic elements of imitative behavior in both healthy people (e.g., Braadbaart et al, 2012;Campione & Gentilucci, 2011;Era et al, 2018;Forbes & Hamilton, 2017;Gold et al, 2008;Hayes et al, 2016;Krüger et al, 2014;Pan & Hamilton, 2015;Reader & Holmes, 2015;Reader et al, 2018;Sacheli et al, 2012;Sacheli et al, 2013, Sacheli, Christensen, et al, 2015Wild et al, 2010;Williams et al, 2013) and brain-damaged patients (e.g., Candidi et al, 2018;Hermsdörfer et al, 1996), as far as we are aware no previous experiments have looked at so many components of the velocity profile in order to compare the coarse-grained (i.e., wrist) kinematic approach to meaningful and meaningless action imitation. Much informative work has been done to assess action performance in meaningful and meaningless action imitation (e.g., Buxbaum et al, 2014;Goldenberg & Hagmann, 1997;Mengotti et al, 2013), but frequently using only subjective rating measures.…”

Section: Kinematics In Meaningful and Meaningless Action Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A kinematic examination of dual-route processing for action imitation

Reader

Rao

Christakou

et al. 2018

Atten Percept Psychophys

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The dual-route model of imitation suggests that meaningful and meaningless actions are processed through either an indirect or a direct route, respectively. Evidence indicates that the direct route is more cognitively demanding since it relies on mapping visuospatial properties of the observed action on to a performed one. These cognitive demands might negatively influence reaction time and accuracy for actions performed following a meaningless action under time constraints. However, how meaningful and meaningless action imitation processing is reflected in movement kinematics is not yet clear. We wanted to confirm whether meaningless action performance incurs a reaction time cost, whether the cost is reflected in kinematics, and, more generally, to examine kinematic markers of emblematic meaningful and meaningless action imitation. We examined participants' reaction time and wrist movements when they imitated emblematic meaningful or matched meaningless gestures in either blocks of the same action type or mixed blocks. Meaningless actions were associated with a greater correction period at the end of the movement, possibly reflecting a strategy designed to ensure accurate completion for less familiar actions under time constraints. Furthermore, in mixed blocks, trials following meaningless actions had a significantly increased reaction time, supporting previous claims that route selection for action imitation may be stimulus-driven. However, there was only convincing evidence for this effect with an interval of~2,948ms, but not~3,573ms or~2,553ms, between movements. Future work motion-tracking the entire hand to assess imitation accuracy, and more closely examining the influence of duration between movements, may help to explain these effects.

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Atypical biological motion kinematics are represented by complementary lower-level and top-down processes during imitation learning

Cited by 17 publications

References 49 publications

Facilitating sensorimotor integration via blocked practice underpins imitation learning of atypical biological kinematics in autism spectrum disorder

Facilitating sensorimotor integration via blocked practice underpins imitation learning of atypical biological kinematics in autism spectrum disorder

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals a role for the left inferior parietal lobule in matching observed kinematics during imitation

A kinematic examination of dual-route processing for action imitation

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