One hand, two hands, two people: Prospective sensorimotor control in children with autism.
Dev Cogn Neurosci
; 29: 86-96, 2018 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28292645
ABSTRACT
Where grasps are made reveals how grasps are planned. The grasp height effect predicts that, when people take hold of an object to move it to a new position, the grasp height on the object is inversely related to the height of the target position. In the present study, we used this effect as a window into the prospective sensorimotor control of children with autism spectrum disorders without accompanying intellectual impairment. Participants were instructed to grasp a vertical cylinder and move it from a table (home position) to a shelf of varying height (target position). Depending on the conditions, they performed the task using only one hand (unimanual), two hands (bimanual), or with the help of a co-actor (joint). Comparison between the performance of typically developing children and children with autism revealed no group difference across tasks. We found, however, a significant influence of IQ on grasp height modulation in both groups. These results provide clear evidence against a general prospective sensorimotor planning deficit and suggest that at least some form of higher order planning is present in autism without accompanying intellectual impairment.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Psychomotor Performance
/
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Dev Cogn Neurosci
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy