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Goal-Directed Action Representation in Autism

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the ability of individuals with autism to represent goal-directed behavioural actions. We compared the performance of subjects with autism (n=16), mentally retarded subjects (n=14) and normal healthy subjects (n=15) in a sequencing task consisted in arranging pictures of single events in their appropriate order so as to make coherent stories. Three types of actions were presented: (a) actions on objects; (b) actions on objects in a broader spatio-temporal context; (c) interactive actions. Autistic subjects were impaired in arranging sequences of actions on objects, as compared to both control groups. This impairment might contribute to explaining both executive deficits and difficulties in understanding others’ behaviour in autism.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant of the Fondation de France (2000–2002). We are grateful to Prof. Hochmann for permission to include in this study autistic patients under his care at the ITTAC, and F. Ferretti and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the previous version of the manuscript. Preliminary results of this study were presented in part at scientific meetings (Zalla, Labruyère, & Georgieff, 2001a).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Bron, France

    Tiziana Zalla, Nelly Labruyere & Nicolas Georgieff

  2. ITTAC, Lyon, France

    Nelly Labruyere & Nicolas Georgieff

  3. Institut Jean-Nicod, 1bis, avenue de Lowendal, 75007, Paris, France

    Tiziana Zalla

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  1. Tiziana Zalla
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  2. Nelly Labruyere
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  3. Nicolas Georgieff
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Correspondence to Tiziana Zalla.

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Zalla, T., Labruyere, N. & Georgieff, N. Goal-Directed Action Representation in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 36, 527–540 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0092-3

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