Abstract
Vitality form is a term, originally introduced by Stern (2010), to describe “how” an action is performed. The capacity to perceive the vitality form of others’ actions is a fundamental element of social interactions and a basic way of relating to and understanding others’ behaviors. Although vitality forms characterize all human interactions, few studies have addressed their role in social and communicative disorders such as autism. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the ability to recognize different vitality forms during the observation of different motor actions in a group of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to typically developing controls (TD). Results show a significant difference between children with ASD and TD in vitality forms recognition. This finding sheds new light on how children with ASD understand others’ actions providing new ideas on overall social understanding as well as useful insights for professionals and caregivers alike.
Highlights
Important information about others’ behavior is conveyed by the dynamics of observed actions’ style, which have been named “vitality forms” by Stern (2010)
At T600 ms, the response categories used by children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and controls were not statistically different: “very rude” and “rude” responses prevailed in both groups, with similar percentages
The first aim of the present study was to extend previous studies assessing whether vitality forms expressed during a simple social interaction were immediately perceived by children with ASD between 8 and 12 years of age; the second aim was to better understand whether possible differences emerging in vitality forms perception in children with ASD could be narrowed down to specific types of vitality forms
Summary
Important information about others’ behavior is conveyed by the dynamics of observed actions’ style, which have been named “vitality forms” by Stern (2010). If someone grasps a mug to drink, the goal-directed grasp is the content of the movement (i.e., “what”), while drinking is the goal or motor intention (i.e., “why”), but if the mug is grasped vigorously or gently, is the manner or style in which the action is executed (i.e., the “how” or vitality form). This distinction is not merely conceptual, and anatomical, as different neural structures have been shown to become active during “what” and “how” judgments. Results showed that “what” and “how” tasks produced activation of similar brain regions, such as occipito-temporal
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