title: STORMy Interactions: Gaze and the Modulation of Mimicry in Adults on the Autism Spectrum.
abstract: Mimicry involves unconsciously imitating the actions of others and is a powerful and ubiquitous behavior in social interactions. There has been a long debate over whether mimicry is abnormal in people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and what the causes of any differences might be. Wang and Hamilton's (2012) social top-down response modulation (STORM) model proposed that people with ASC can and do mimic but, unlike neurotypical participants, fail to modulate their mimicry according to the social context. This study used an established mimicry paradigm to test this hypothesis. In neurotypical participants, direct gaze specifically enhanced congruent hand actions as previously found; in the ASC sample, direct gaze led to faster reaction times in both congruent and incongruent movements. This result shows that mimicry is intact in ASC, but is not socially modulated by gaze, as predicted by STORM.
authors: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK. paul.forbes.13@ucl.ac.uk.
authors: Paul A G
authors: PA
authors: Forbes
authors: Division of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Yin
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
authors: Antonia F
authors: AF
authors: de C Hamilton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Autism; Gaze; Mimicry; Social cognition