Imitation of intentional and accidental actions by children with autism.
To determine whether children with autism (CWA) would selectively imitate intentional, as opposed to accidental actions, an experimenter demonstrated either an "intentional" and an "accidental" action or two "intentional" actions on the same toy [Carpenter, Akhtar, & Tomasello (1998a) Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 315-330]. CWA tended to imitate the experimenter exactly. Children with developmental delay and older typically developing children (TD) reproduced only the intentional action as often as they imitated the experimenter exactly. Younger TD mostly produced only the intentional action. It is concluded that, contrary to comparison groups, the CWA did not show an appreciation of the model's intentions. Results are discussed in terms of theories of social cognition.
D'Entremont
Barbara
B
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Bag Service #45444, E3B 6E4, Fredericton, NB, Canada. bdentrem@unb.ca
Yazbek
Aimée
A
D000059:Accidents / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001288:Attention; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012938:Social Perception