Learning of skilled movements via imitation in ASD

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) consists of altered performance of a range of skills, including social/communicative and motor skills. It is unclear whether this altered performance results from atypical acquisition or learning of the skills or from atypical "online" performance of the skills. Atypicalities of skilled actions that require both motor and cognitive resources, such as abnormal gesturing, are highly prevalent in ASD and are easier to study in a laboratory context than are social/communicative skills. Imitation has long been known to be impaired in ASD; because learning via imitation is a prime method by which humans acquire skills, we tested the hypothesis that children with ASD show alterations in learning novel gestures via imitation. 18 participants with ASD and IQ>80, ages 8-12.9 years, and 19 typically developing (TD) peers performed a task in which they watched a video of a model performing a novel, meaningless arm/hand gesture and copied the gesture. Each gesture video/copy sequence was repeated 4-6 times. Eight gestures were analyzed. Examination of learning trajectories revealed that while children with ASD made nearly as much progress in learning from repetition 1 to repetition 4, the shape of the learning curves differed. Causal modeling demonstrated the shape of the learning curve influenced both the performance of overlearned gestures and autism severity, suggesting that it is in index of learning mechanisms relevant both to motor skills and autism core features.

Unique deficit in embodied simulation in autism: An fMRI study comparing autism and developmental coordination disorder

“…However, the degree in which embodied simulation is utilized may be modulated by one's motor abilities (Yang, 2015; Buccino et al, 2004). Indeed, about 79% of children with ASD have comorbid motor impairments (Fournier, Hass, Naik, Lodha, & Cauraugh, 2010; Green et al, 2009), including ideomotor praxis and imitation deficits (McAuliffe et al, 2020; Mostofsky & Ewen, 2011; Rizzolatti & Sinigaglia, 2016). Are embodied simulation deficits unique to ASD?…”

Evaluating Causal Psychological Models: A Study of Imitation Theories of Autism Using a Large Sample

“…Children with ASD showed a significant difference in their Imitation performance, with a Cohen's d of 1.21 (so-called very large effect), p < 10 -15 (Figure 3). impairments not only in imitation (DeMyer et al, 1972) but also in praxis (learned, skilled motor acts) (Dziuk et al, 2007;MacNeil & Mostofsky, 2012;McAuliffe, Pillai, Tiedemann, Mostofsky, & Ewen, 2017;Mostofsky et al, 2006;Steinman, Mostofsky, & Denckla, 2010), proposed that there is a single mechanism that underlies both altered motor learning (Ewen et al, 2016;McAuliffe et al, 2020) and social skill learning, and that this mechanism may rely on imitation (Mostofsky & Ewen, 2011).…”

Early Learning in Autism as an Atypical Balance between Assimilation and Accommodation Processes

“…There is considerable evidence that autistic children learn from practice, enjoy the process of practicing mastered schemas, and assimilate novel information within those schemas (McAuliffe et al, 2020;Vivanti et al, 2016a). Their language skills and sorting skills demonstrate both their ability to and interest in expanding (assimilating) the exemplars within specific schemas -color learning, animal names, alphabet letters in young children and maps, countries and capitals, flags, song lyrics with older persons.…”