Imitation, play and theory of mind in autism : an observational and experimental study
Abstract
This observational and experimental study takes the Intersubjectivity Theory
of Rogers and Pennington (1991), as the guiding line by which to investigate
imitation in autism. A deficit in imitation in early childhood is the principal aspect of
this theory which distinguishes it from other major theories such as those of Baron-
Cohen et al. (1985) and Hobson (1986).
With much debate over the existence of a general deficit in imitation, this
study aimed first to test for different types of imitation (including those
differentiated by Piaget (1962), such as vocal, immediate and deferred imitation) and
second, to examine other deficits linked to imitation in Roger and Pennington's
theory - emotion perception, joint attention, theory of mind and play. The effect of
age was also investigated. Rogers and Pennington (1991) predicted that young
autistic children would show a profile of deficits including impaired imitation,
emotion sharing, joint attention and pretend play while older children and adults
would show impaired "theory of mind", emotion sharing and language pragmatics,
relative to controls.
In an observational study autistic children and adults showed less social
interaction with peers, more manipulative play, less symbolic play in some
comparisons and less evidence of mental state understanding but few differences in
imitation, compared to children with learning disabilities and normal 3-4 year old
and 5-6 year old children.
Virtually the same samples were then tested experimentally for the ability to
imitate. This was done for (1) elicited imitation (including vocal, simple body
movements and symbolic actions, with and without objects), (2) spontaneous,
problem-solving imitation and (3) deferred imitation. In addition, spontaneous,
elicited and instructed play was tested and visual perspective-taking, joint attention,
false-belief and emotion recognition. No general deficit for imitation in school-age
autistic children and autistic adults was found, although a younger group (CA 4 - 7
years) of autistic children did significantly worse on all aspects of the task. Scores
were lower on deferred imitation and on spontaneous, problem-solving imitation for
the autistic groups and certain categories of actions in the elicited task proved more
difficult for the autistic children, namely those requiring symbolic ability.
Previous findings on joint attention, false-belief and emotion perception
were, for the most part, confirmed, although no links between any of these
behaviours and imitation were evident from examination of individual profiles. In
addition, a picture of inconsistency across tasks emerged. However, some evidence
was found for Rogers and Pennington's theory at a crude level, in that it was the
youngest children who had most problems with imitation, symbolic play, and
emotion recognition, relative to controls. It is concluded that although imitation may
be lacking in early autistic development, Rogers and Pennington's theory may not be
an altogether satisfactory way of explaining its contribution to the autistic disorder
and is, in fact, very difficult to test.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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