title: Action perception is intact in autism spectrum disorder.
abstract: Autistic traits span a wide spectrum of behavioral departures from typical function. Despite the heterogeneous nature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there have been attempts at formulating unified theoretical accounts of the associated impairments in social cognition. A class of prominent theories capitalizes on the link between social interaction and visual perception: effective interaction with others often relies on discrimination of subtle nonverbal cues. It has been proposed that individuals with ASD may rely on poorer perceptual representations of other people's actions as returned by dysfunctional visual circuitry and that this, in turn, may lead to less effective interpretation of those actions for social behavior. It remains unclear whether such perceptual deficits exist in ASD: the evidence currently available is limited to specific aspects of action recognition, and the reported deficits are often attributable to cognitive factors that may not be strictly visual (e.g., attention). We present results from an exhaustive set of measurements spanning the entire action processing hierarchy, from motion detection to action interpretation, designed to factor out effects that are not selectively relevant to this function. Our results demonstrate that the ASD perceptual system returns functionally intact signals for interpreting other people's actions adequately; these signals can be accessed effectively when autistic individuals are prompted and motivated to do so under controlled conditions. However, they may fail to exploit them adequately during real-life social interactions.
authors: Division of Applied Medicine (Psychiatry), Clinical Research Centre and j.cusack@abdn.ac.uk.
authors: James P
authors: JP
authors: Cusack
authors: Division of Applied Medicine (Psychiatry), Clinical Research Centre and.
authors: Justin H G
authors: JH
authors: Williams
authors: School of Psychology and Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZD United Kingdom, and Laboratory of Perceptual Systems, National Center of Scientific Research Unit 8248, Department of Cognitive Studies, École normale supérieure, Paris Sciences and Arts Research University, 75005 Paris, France.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Neri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception
keywords: biological motion; enactive mind; human agency; inversion effect; mirror neuron; simulation theory
references: Autism Res. 2008 Apr;1(2):73-90
references: 19360654
references: Proc Biol Sci. 2009 Mar 7;276(1658):861-9
references: 19129133
references: Nature. 2009 May 14;459(7244):257-61
references: 19329996
references: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Nov;47(13):3023-9
references: 19500604
references: Vision Res. 2009 Nov;49(22):2705-39
references: 19682485
references: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Dec;47(14):3275-8
references: 19632248
references: Neuropsychologia. 2009 Dec;47(14):3225-35
references: 19666038
references: Brain. 2010 Feb;133(Pt 2):599-610
references: 19887505
references: Neuron. 2010 May 13;66(3):461-9
references: 20471358
references: PLoS One. 2010;5(10):e13491
references: 20976151
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Dec 7;107(49):21223-8
references: 21078973
references: Autism Res. 2011 Oct;4(5):347-57
references: 21850664
references: J Autism Dev Disord. 2012 Apr;42(4):557-65
references: 21538172
references: PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e44473
references: 22970227
references: Vision Res. 2013 May 3;83:9-18
references: 23474301
references: Brain. 2013 Sep;136(Pt 9):2816-24
references: 23983031
references: Psychol Med. 2014 Mar;44(4):731-40
references: 23759288
references: Autism Res. 2008 Dec;1(6):354-63
references: 19360690
references: Neuroimage. 2000 Sep;12(3):314-25
references: 10944414
references: Percept Psychophys. 2000 Jul;62(5):889-99
references: 10997036
references: J Autism Dev Disord. 2000 Jun;30(3):205-23
references: 11055457
references: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2001 Jun;25(4):287-95
references: 11445135
references: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2002 Mar;3(3):201-15
references: 11994752
references: Brain. 2002 Aug;125(Pt 8):1839-49
references: 12135974
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003 Feb 28;358(1430):345-60
references: 12639332
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003 Feb 28;358(1430):375-86
references: 12639334
references: Psychol Sci. 2003 Mar;14(2):151-7
references: 12661677
references: Perception. 1984;13(3):283-6
references: 6514513
references: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1992 Aug;18(3):603-23
references: 1500865
references: Nature. 1998 Oct 29;395(6705):894-6
references: 9804421
references: Trends Cogn Sci. 2004 Jan;8(1):26-32
references: 14697400
references: PLoS Biol. 2006 Mar;4(3):e56
references: 16494527
references: J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Jan;36(1):5-25
references: 16450045
references: J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Jan;36(1):27-43
references: 16453071
references: Curr Biol. 2006 Apr 18;16(8):821-4
references: 16631591
references: Perception. 2006;35(5):647-57
references: 16836055
references: Nat Neurosci. 2006 Sep;9(9):1186-92
references: 16936721
references: J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Nov;36(8):983-92
references: 16897392
references: Vision Res. 2007 Apr;47(9):1209-14
references: 17368708
references: Hum Brain Mapp. 2007 May;28(5):441-9
references: 17133386
references: J Autism Dev Disord. 2007 Aug;37(7):1386-92
references: 17160459
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jan 15;105(2):809-13
references: 18174333