Intact or impaired? The understanding of give-and-take interactions in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

BackgroundUnderstanding and predicting others’ behavior in a dynamic and rapidly changing world is a fundamental aspect of social interactions. However, it remains unclear as to whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) could understand and predict goal-directed social actions. AimsTo investigate the understanding of give-and-take interactions in children with ASD with the use of eye tracking. Methods and proceduresExperiment 1 and 2 investigated the understanding of giving and taking respectively in 5-to 8-year-old Chinese children with ASD and typically developing children by using the eye-tracking technology. Outcomes and ResultsWe found that children with ASD could predict actions, but they were less proficient in processing give-and-take interactions. Moreover, children with ASD showed impaired understanding of giving but not taking. ConclusionsThese results indicate that the basic mechanisms of action prediction are intact in children with ASD whereas there may be deficits in the top-down social processing of the giving gesture.