Observational learning of atypical biological kinematics in autism

Nathan C. Foster1，Simon J. Bennett， Kiri Pullar1，Joe Causer et al.

Observing and voluntarily imitating the biological kinematics displayed by a

model underpins the acquisition of new motor skills via sensorimotor processes linking perception with action. Differences in voluntary imitation in autism could be related to sensorimotor processing activity during action-observation of biological motion, as well as how sensorimotor integration processing occurs across imitation attempts. Using an observational practice protocol, which minimized the active contribution of the peripheral sensorimotor system, we examined the contribution of sensorimotor processing during action-observation. The data showed that autistic participants imitated both the temporal duration and atypical kinematic profile of the observed movement with a similar level of accuracy as neurotypical participants. These findings suggest the lower-level perception-action processes responsible for encoding biological kinematics during the action observation phase of imitation are operational in autism. As there was no task-specific engagement of the peripheral sensorimotor system during observational practice, imitation difficulties in autism are most likely underpinned by sensorimotor integration issues related to the processing of efferent and (re)afferent sen-

sorimotor information during trial-to-trial motor execution.

Lay Summary

Learning a skill by imitating a model (i.e., teacher, parent, or carer) occurs in many everyday situations such as a classroom or home. Imitation can be difficult for some autistic people, especially if a skill is new or complex. These difficulties are said to be based on how autistic people watch a skill and subsequently process what they watched in order to imitate the skill. In this study, we tasked autistic people to learn a new skill by only watching (not imitating) a model during a period of practice. Autistic people imitated how the model moved (movement time and style) similarly to non-autistic people. This finding is very important because it showed that the reported difficulty in imitation is not based on how autistic people watch and process a model (i.e., how they move), but a result of sensory-motor difficulties related to how they plan and get ready to imitate a model. Parents/carers, clinicians, teachers, and/or support workers should therefore consider autistic motor difficulties when teaching new motor skills and everyday skills via modeling.

摘要  观察和自愿地模仿模型所显示的生物运动学是通过将感知与行动联系起来的感觉运动过程来获得新的运动技能的基础。自闭症患者自愿模仿的差异可能与动作-观察生物运动过程中的感觉运动加工活动有关，以及感觉运动整合加工是如何在模仿尝试中发生的。使用观察练习方案，将外周感觉运动系统的积极贡献降至最低，我们检查了感觉运动处理在动作观察中的贡献。数据显示，自闭症参与者模仿观察到的运动的时间持续时间和非典型运动学特征，其准确度与神经典型参与者相似。这些发现表明，在模仿的动作观察阶段，负责编码生物运动学的较低水平的知觉-行动过程在自闭症中是可操作的。由于在观察实践中没有外周感觉运动系统的特定任务参与，自闭症的模仿困难很可能是由与试验到试验运动执行过程中传出和(重新)传入感觉运动信息的处理有关的感觉运动整合问题所支撑的。

通过模仿模型(例如，老师、家长或照顾者)学习一项技能在许多日常情况下都会发生，例如在教室或家里。对于一些自闭症患者来说，模仿可能很困难，特别是当一项技能是新的或复杂的时候。据说，这些困难是基于自闭症患者观看一项技能，然后为了模仿这项技能而对所观看的内容进行加工。在这项研究中，我们让自闭症患者在一段时间的练习中只看(而不是模仿)一个模型来学习一项新技能。自闭症患者模仿模型的移动方式(动作、时间和风格)，与非自闭症患者相似。这一发现非常重要，因为它表明，人们报告的模仿困难并不是基于自闭症患者观看和处理模型的方式(即他们如何移动)，而是与他们如何计划和准备模仿模型有关的感觉-运动困难的结果。因此，父母/护理人员、临床医生、教师和/或支持人员在通过建模教授新的运动技能和日常技能时，应该考虑自闭症运动障碍。