Grasping Motor Impairments in Autism: Not Action Planning but Movement Execution is Deficient

Different views on the origin of deficits in action chaining in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been posited, ranging from functional impairments in action planning to internal models supporting motor control. Thirty-one children and adolescents with ASD and twenty-nine matched controls partici...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2013-12, Vol.43 (12), p.2793-2806
Main Authors: Stoit, Astrid M. B., van Schie, Hein T., Slaats-Willemse, Dorine I. E., Buitelaar, Jan K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Adolescent
Adolescents
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Autistic Disorder - physiopathology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Behavioral Sciences
Biological and medical sciences
Care and treatment
Child
Child and School Psychology
Child clinical studies
Children
Control Groups
Cues
Developmental disorders
Diagnosis
Disabilities
Etiology
Female
Hand Strength
Humans
Imitation
Infantile autism
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders
Mental illness
Motor Development
Motor Reactions
Movement
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Nervous system as a whole
Neurology
Neurosciences
Object Permanence
Observation
Original Paper
Pediatrics
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Psychiatry
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychomotor Skills
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public Health
Reaction Time
Risk factors
Semantics
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Description
Summary:Different views on the origin of deficits in action chaining in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been posited, ranging from functional impairments in action planning to internal models supporting motor control. Thirty-one children and adolescents with ASD and twenty-nine matched controls participated in a two-choice reach-to-grasp paradigm wherein participants received cueing information indicating either the object location or the required manner of grasping. A similar advantage for location cueing over grip cueing was found in both groups. Both accuracy and reaction times of the ASD group were indistinguishable from the control group. In contrast, movement times of the ASD group were significantly delayed in comparison with controls. These findings suggest that movement execution rather than action planning is deficient in ASD, and that deficits in action chaining derive from impairments in internal action models supporting action execution.
ISSN:0162-3257
1573-3432
DOI:10.1007/s10803-013-1825-8