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Action Prediction in Autism

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Definition

Action prediction is the inherent social cognitive ability to anticipate how another individual’s action will unfold over time. Such projections are essential for smooth reciprocal social interaction and involve the predictions of others’ action goals as well as the means they use to achieve their goals. In everyday life, humans constantly coordinate their actions with others. For example, having a cup of coffee at a café involves numerous joint actions, such as ordering the coffee when the waiter is attending, giving the cash and receiving the change, or holding up the cup so that the waiter can refill it with more coffee from the coffeepot. All these actions have to be sensitively attuned in order to successfully enjoy the cup of coffee without dropping money or spilling hot coffee on one’s pants.

Eye movements during the observation of another individual’s action reveal that, instead of passively following the movement trajectory of this action, humans proactively...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Tobias Schuwerk & Markus Paulus

Authors
  1. Tobias Schuwerk
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  2. Markus Paulus
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Correspondence to Tobias Schuwerk .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Schuwerk, T., Paulus, M. (2021). Action Prediction in Autism. In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91280-6_102206

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