title: Limitations in social anticipation are independent of imaginative and Theory of Mind abilities in children with autism but not in typically developing children.
abstract: Anticipating future interactions is characteristic of our everyday social experiences, yet has received limited empirical attention. Little is known about how children with autism spectrum disorder, known for their limitations in social interactive skills, engage in social anticipation. We asked children with autism spectrum disorder and their typically developing counterparts to consider an interaction with another person in the near future. Our results suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children performed similarly when anticipating the age, gender, and possible questions of another person, but children with autism spectrum disorder struggled more to anticipate what they would say in response to an anticipated interaction. Furthermore, such responses were robustly associated with imaginative capacities in typically developing children but not children with autism spectrum disorder. Our findings suggest that the cognitive mechanisms of social anticipation may differ between these groups.
authors.affiliation: The University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Douglas Jozef
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Angus
authors.affiliation: The University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Rosnay
authors.affiliation: VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Patty
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lunenburg
authors.affiliation: VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meerum Terwogt
authors.affiliation: The University of Sydney, Australia VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands S.Begeer@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Begeer
mesh_terms: D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: autism; children; imagination; pretence; social anticipation