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- DOI: 10.1007/s10803-011-1417-4
- PMID: 22146933
- UKPMCID: 22146933
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Goal-Directed and Goal-Less Imitation in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Wild, Kelly S; Poliakoff, Ellen; Jerrison, Andrew; Gowen, Emma
Journal of autism and developmental disorders. 2012;42(8):1739.
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Full-text held externally
- DOI: 10.1007/s10803-011-1417-4
- PMID: 22146933
- UKPMCID: 22146933
Abstract
To investigate how people with Autism are affected by the presence of goals during imitation, we conducted a study to measure movement kinematics and eye movements during the imitation of goal-directed and goal-less hand movements. Our results showed that a control group imitated changes in movement kinematics and increased the level that they tracked the hand with their eyes, in the goal-less compared to goal-direction condition. In contrast, the ASD group exhibited more goal-directed eye movements, and failed to modulate the observed movement kinematics successfully in either condition. These results increase the evidence for impaired goal-less imitation in ASD, and suggest that there is a reliance on goal-directed strategies for imitation in ASD, even in the absence of visual goals.