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Learning by observation in children with autism spectrum disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2014

F. Foti ,
L. Mazzone ,
D. Menghini ,
L. De Peppo ,
F. Federico ,
V. Postorino ,
E. Baumgartner ,
G. Valeri ,
L. Petrosini  and
S. Vicari
F. Foti*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
L. Mazzone
Affiliation:
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
D. Menghini
Affiliation:
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
L. De Peppo
Affiliation:
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
F. Federico
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
V. Postorino
Affiliation:
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
E. Baumgartner
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
G. Valeri
Affiliation:
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
L. Petrosini
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
S. Vicari
Affiliation:
Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy
*
* Address for correspondence: F. Foti, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Rome, Italy. (Email: francesca.foti@uniroma1.it)
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Abstract

Background

Observing another person performing a complex action accelerates the observer's acquisition of the same action and limits the time-consuming process of learning by trial and error. Learning by observation requires specific skills such as attending, imitating and understanding contingencies. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit deficits in these skills.

Method

The performance of 20 ASD children was compared with that of a group of typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological age (CA), IQ and gender on tasks of learning of a visuomotor sequence by observation or by trial and error. Acquiring the correct sequence involved three phases: a detection phase (DP), in which participants discovered the correct sequence and learned how to perform the task; an exercise phase (EP), in which they reproduced the sequence until performance was error free; and an automatization phase (AP), in which by repeating the error-free sequence they became accurate and speedy.

Results

In the DP, ASD children were impaired in detecting a sequence by trial and error only when the task was proposed as first, whereas they were as efficient as TD children in detecting a sequence by observation. In the EP, ASD children were as efficient as TD children. In the AP, ASD children were impaired in automatizing the sequence. Although the positive effect of learning by observation was evident, ASD children made a high number of imitative errors, indicating marked tendencies to hyperimitate.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrate the imitative abilities of ASD children although the presence of imitative errors indicates an impairment in the control of imitative behaviours.

Keywords

Autism spectrum disorderimitationobservational learningsequential learning
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 11 , August 2014 , pp. 2437 - 2447
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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