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Predicting ensuing actions in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

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Abstract

This study investigated the ability to predict others’ action in a group of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (n = 18). Their performance was compared with a group of children with mental retardation (n = 13) and a group of children with typical development (n = 19). Participants were presented with short incomplete videotaped movies showing an actor executing familiar and non-familiar actions. When asked to predict the outcome, participants with ASD produced fewer correct responses and their performance did not improve for familiar actions, as compared to both comparison groups. In addition, they committed a greater number of errors of temporal inversion. These results provide new evidence that an impaired means-end analysis process, leading to a diminished sensitivity to the sequence structure of goal-directed actions, would disrupt the ability to understand and predict others’ actions. The comprehension of abnormalities in event knowledge provides a better insight of some of the problems that individuals with ASD encounter in spontaneously understanding real-life social situations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dick Carter and Pierre Jacob for very helpful comments on an earlier draft of the article. This research was supported by a grant from the Fondation de France (2000–2002) to TZ, NL and NG.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Jean Nicod, CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 29, rue d’Ulm, 75005, Paris, France

    Tiziana Zalla

  2. Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Bron, France

    Nelly Labruyère & Nicolas Georgieff

  3. Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, ITTAC, Bron, France

    Nelly Labruyère & Nicolas Georgieff

  4. Hospice Civil de Lyon, Lyon, France

    Amélie Clément

Authors
  1. Tiziana Zalla
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  2. Nelly Labruyère
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  3. Amélie Clément
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  4. Nicolas Georgieff
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tiziana Zalla.

Appendix

Appendix

List of familiar and non-familiar actions and the four alternative images representing the appropriate outcome, the less likely outcome, the temporally preceding outcome and the incongruous outcome.

Familiar actions

  1. 1.

    Eating a sandwich (eats the sandwich/puts the sandwich in the fridge/prepares a sandwich/throws the sandwich into the garbage bin).

  2. 2.

    Writing a letter (writes the letter/scratches his head with the pen/takes a notebook and the pen/writes on the table).

  3. 3.

    Packing a suitcase (closes the suitcase with all the staff inside/empties the suitcase/opens the suitcase/sits inside the suitcase).

  4. 4.

    Cutting bread (slices up the bread/places the bread in the drawer/grabs the knife/sticks the knife in the bread).

  5. 5.

    Reading a book (reads the book/falls asleep with the book/sits down on the armchair with the book/places the book on the bookshelf).

  6. 6.

    Getting dressed (puts the t-shirt on/takes off his t-shirt/takes out the t-shirt from the drawer/put the t-shirt on the head).

  7. 7.

    Posting a letter (posts the letter/places the letter on a shelf/writes the address on the envelop/throws the letter away).

  8. 8.

    Watching television (watches TV/reads the video cover/sits down on a chair/turns his back to the TV).

  9. 9.

    Having a meal (serves meal/puts the plate in the fridge/cooks a meal/places the casserole on his head).

  10. 10.

    Preparing a birthday party (bring the cake on the table/eats the cake by himself/places blown out candles on the cake/throws the cake into the garbage bin).

Non-familiar actions

  1. 1.

    Cooking a meal (puts the pasta in the plate/eats from the pot/stirs the pasta/places the pot on his head).

  2. 2.

    Shaving (shaves/stares idly at the mirror/opens the shaving cream/cleans the mirror).

  3. 3.

    Starting a car (turns the ignition key/puts the key on the dashboard-tray/gets in the car/sleeps in the car).

  4. 4.

    Lighting a candle (lights the candle/blows on the match/takes the matches/places the matches box in his mouth).

  5. 5.

    Preparing a toilet bag (closes the toilet bag/puts the toilet bag in the bathroom closet/puts toothpaste in the toilet bag/puts the luggage in the bathtub).

  6. 6.

    Putting a nail on the wall (screws a nail/hammers the nail with the screwdriver-top/checks that nail and screwdriver match/scratches his head with the nail).

  7. 7.

    Dressing a cake (puts a candle on the cake/puts the cake in the cupboard/puts candies on the cake/places the cake on his head).

  8. 8.

    Hanging a painting (hangs a painting/puts down the painting on the floor/takes the painting/hangs the painting facing the wall).

  9. 9.

    Ironing (irons the towel/wipes his face with the towel/takes the towel/removes the towel and irons the ironing-board).

  10. 10.

    Leaving for winter vacation (loading skis on a car/sits on the floor by his luggage and skis/takes luggage and skis/puts luggage in the closet).

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Zalla, T., Labruyère, N., Clément, A. et al. Predicting ensuing actions in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Exp Brain Res 201, 809–819 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-2096-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-2096-7

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