Interpersonal Synchronization, Motor Coordination, and Control Are Impaired During a Dynamic Imitation Task in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Jean Xavier,François Villa,David Cohen,Mohamed Zahoui,Alain Berthoz,Soizic Gauthier,Salvatore Anzalone,Mohamed Chetouani

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01467

Abstract

Background: Impairments in imitation abilities have been commonly described in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). How motricity in interpersonal coordination impacts imitation, during long lasting semi-ecological conditions, has not been carefully investigated.Methods: Eighty-five children and adolescents (39 controls with typical development, TD; 29 patients with ASD; 17 patients with developmental coordination disorder, DCD), aged 6 to 20 years, participated to a behavioral paradigm in which participants, standing and moving, interacted with a virtual tightrope walker standing and moving as well. During the protocol, we measured automatically and continuously bodily postures and movements from RGB sensor recording to assess participants' behavioral imitation.Results: We show that (1) interpersonal synchronization (as evidenced by the synchrony between the participant's and the tightrope walker's bars) and (2) motor coordination (as evidenced by the synchrony between the participant's bar and its own head axis) increased with age and were more impaired in patients with ASD. Also, motor control as evidenced by the movement angle standard deviations of participants' bar and head were significantly impaired in ASD compared to TD or DCD.Conclusion: Interpersonal synchronization and motor coordination during ecological interaction show both subtle impairment in children with ASD as compared to children with TD or DCD. These results questioned how motricity mature in terms of motor control and proprioception in children with ASD.

Highlights

Imitation plays a critical role in the development of intersubjectivity
The authors found that, in the front facing orientation when OBT involved a mental rotation, OBT was very difficult for participants under 12 and the rates of OBT were similar among the three groups (ASD, developmental coordination disorder (DCD), and typically developing (TD))
There was a significant effect according to groups: Correlation was smaller in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) group compared to both the TD group (β = −0.173, p < 0.001) and the DCD group (β = −0.124, p < 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

Imitation plays a critical role in the development of intersubjectivity. It represents a key milestone in early communication (Gopnik and Meltzoff, 1993; Nadel and Potier, 2002; Rogers et al, 2005), a bedrock on which social cognition is built (Meltzoff, 2007) and a prerequisite of the self (Meltzoff, 2005). Spontaneous motor imitation between children reveals a playful dynamic, driven by repetition, challenging the visual-spatial abilities of children (Xavier et al, 2013). It requires continuous partner reciprocity involving synchrony rooted in rhythmic interpersonal coordination, which is promoted, during joint actions, by dynamic similarities in terms of motor signature (Xavier et al, 2017). How motricity in interpersonal coordination impacts imitation, during long lasting semi-ecological conditions, has not been carefully investigated

Results

Discussion

Conclusion