Analogue functional analysis of movements associated with tardive dyskinesia

We studied whether movements associated with tardive dyskinesia (TD) served operant functions in 2 men with developmental disabilities. We found that TD-related movements occurred more frequently in the alone and attention conditions and less frequently in control and demand conditions. Our findings suggest that TD-related movements may not be maintained by social reinforcers and that decreases in TD movements are possibly a result of engagement in activities that are incompatible with TD movements.     

Deficits in volitional oculomotor control align with language status in autism spectrum disorders

Eye‐tracking paradigms are increasingly used to investigate higher‐level social and cognitive processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the integrity of the oculomotor system within ASD is unclear, with contradictory reports of aberrant eye‐movements on basic oculomotor tasks. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether reducing population heterogeneity and distinguishing neurocognitive phenotypes can clarify discrepancies in oculomotor behaviour evident in previous reports. Reflexive and volitional eye‐movement control was assessed in 73 children aged 8–14 years from four distinct groups: Autism Language Normal (ALN), Autism Language Impaired (ALI), non‐autistic Language Impaired (LI) and Typically Developing (TD). Eye‐movement control was measured using pro‐ and antisaccade tasks and a novel ‘search distracter’ task to measure distractibility. Reflexive eye‐movements were equivalent across groups, but deficits in volitional eye‐movement control were found that aligned with language status, and were not specific to ASD. More than 80% of ALI and LI children presented error rates at least 1.5 SDs below the TD mean in an antisaccade task. In the search distracter task, 35.29% of ALI children and 43.75% of LI children had error rates greater than 1.5 SDs compared with 17.64% of ALN children. A significant proportion of children with neurodevelopmental disorders involving language function have pronounced difficulties suppressing reflexive saccades and maintaining fixations in the presence of competing stimuli. We extend the putative link between ALI and LI populations to non‐language tasks, and highlight the need to account for co‐morbidity in understanding the ontogenesis of ASD.     

Differences in Theory of Mind and Pretend Play Associations in Children with and Without Specific Language Impairment

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have difficulty engaging in social pretend play, which cannot be explained exclusively by their deficient language skills. Alternatively, the ability to represent mental states (Theory of Mind [ToM]) might be important in appreciating peers' perspectives during pretend play. This study investigated whether ToM was associated with pretend play abilities in children with and without SLI. Forty‐four children (22 with SLI, 22 with typical development [TD]) between 4 and 6 years of age participated in ToM tasks and a dyadic role play activity. Children with SLI performed significantly more poorly on ToM tasks than children with TD; however, there were no significant group differences in children's role play abilities. Partial correlations revealed a positive and significant association between ToM and social pretend play in children with TD but a negative and not significant association in children with SLI. These findings suggest that not all forms and aspects of pretend play require mental representation in order to understand or engage in pretend play. Further, children with SLI may differ in their mental representational abilities from children with TD. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotion knowledge,emotion regulation,and psychosocial adjustment in children with nonverbal learning disabilities

Nonverbal learning disability is a childhood disorder with basic neuropsychological deficits in visuospatial processing and psychomotor coordination, and secondary impairments in academic and social-emotional functioning. This study examines emotion recognition, understanding, and regulation in a clinic-referred group of young children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD). These processes have been shown to be related to social competence and psychological adjustment in typically developing (TD) children. Psychosocial adjustment and social skills are also examined for this young group, and for a clinic-referred group of older children with NLD. The young children with NLD scored lower than the TD comparison group on tasks assessing recognition of happy and sad facial expressions and tasks assessing understanding of how emotions work. Children with NLD were also rated as having less adaptive regulation of their emotions. For both young and older children with NLD, internalizing and externalizing problem scales were rated higher than for the TD comparison groups, and the means of the internalizing, attention, and social problem scales were found to fall within clinically concerning ranges. Measures of attention and nonverbal intelligence did not account for the relationship between NLD and Social Problems. Social skills and NLD membership share mostly overlapping variance in accounting for internalizing problems across the sample. The results are discussed within a framework wherein social cognitive deficits, including emotion processes, have a negative impact on social competence, leading to clinically concerning levels of depression and withdrawal in this population.     

高功能孤独症儿童的合作行为

合作行为是一种重要的亲社会行为, 对儿童的社会适应具有重要意义, 而孤独症儿童的典型特征是社会功能存在缺陷, 从而导致合作行为的缺乏。以往研究未能就孤独症儿童在不同合作任务类型中的表现做出区分, 本研究采用经典的囚徒困境博弈和合作性工具任务比较了6~12岁的高功能孤独症儿童和正常发展儿童在不同任务中的合作行为。结果显示高功能孤独症儿童和正常儿童在囚徒困境中的合作行为没有显著差异, 然而, 他们在工具性任务中表现出比正常儿童更低水平的合作行为。这说明高功能孤独症儿童在对认知能力有不同要求的合作任务中的表现不同。     

自闭症谱系障碍儿童在多重线索下习得词语的眼动研究

本文利用眼动追踪技术在基线、一致和矛盾3种实验条件下考察感知觉线索和社会性线索在自闭症谱系障碍儿童词语习得中的相对作用。行为数据结果表明, 此类儿童在矛盾条件下选择枯燥物体作为新异词语的所指对象, 这说明社会性线索较之于感知觉线索具有优势作用; 而他们在基线和一致条件下选择有趣物体作为新异词语的所指对象, 且一致条件的词语习得成绩优于基线条件, 这说明社会性线索较之于感知觉线索具有促进作用。眼动数据结果表明, 此类儿童在脸部注视模式和视线追随行为上与普通儿童存在差异。这说明, 虽然社会性线索在此类儿童与普通儿童的词语习得中具有相同的相对作用, 但他们获取社会性信息的方式与普通儿童存在差异。     

场景的年龄特征会影响自闭症谱系障碍儿童的注视模式

为了探讨场景年龄特征对ASD儿童场景注视模式的影响,选取14名自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童和19名与其智力年龄匹配的正常发育（TD）儿童为被试,在被试对儿童场景和成人场景图片进行自由观看的同时记录其眼动。结果发现,ASD儿童对全图、面部、眼部和嘴部的访问均显著少于TD儿童,对背景区域的访问显著大于TD儿童;ASD和TD儿童对面部和身体的访问时间比都显著大于前景与背景兴趣区;ASD儿童对儿童场景中面部、眼部和嘴部兴趣区的访问时间比大于成人场景,而TD儿童则相反;两组儿童都表现出对儿童场景中背景的偏好。结果表明,在场景注视中,ASD与TD儿童具有相似的社会性注意倾向,对社会性信息给予更多注视,但ASD儿童表现更弱;场景的年龄特征会影响ASD儿童与TD儿童的场景注视模式,相对于成人场景,ASD儿童更偏向于注视儿童场景中的面孔和背景。     

Comparing Attention to Socially-Relevant Stimuli in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Coordination Disorder

Difficulties with social interaction have been reported in both children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), although these disorders have very different diagnostic characteristics. To date, assessment of social skills in a DCD population has been limited to paper-based assessment or parent report. The present study employed eye tracking methodology to examine how children attend to socially-relevant stimuli, comparing 28 children with DCD, 28 children with ASD and 26 typically-developing (TD) age-matched controls (aged 7–10). Eye movements were recorded while children viewed 30 images, half of which were classed as ‘Individual’ (one person in the scene, direct gaze) and the other half were ‘Social’ (more naturalistic scenes showing an interaction). Children with ASD spent significantly less time looking at the face/eye regions in the images than TD children, but children with DCD performed between the ASD and TD groups in this respect. Children with DCD demonstrated a reduced tendency to follow gaze, in comparison to the ASD group. Our findings confirm that social atypicalities are present in both ASD and to a lesser extent DCD, but follow a different pattern. Future research would benefit from considering the developmental nature of the observed findings and their implications for support.     

Top-down attentional modulation in autistic spectrum disorders is stimulus-specific

This study investigated top-down modulation of bottom-up attentional capture in children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) and in a typically developing (TD) comparison group using a spatial-cuing task (Experiment 1) and a series of visual search tasks (Experiment 2) employing task-irrelevant distractors. The effect of color and onset singleton distractors was investigated. The TD group showed similar top-down modulation of color and onset stimuli. The ASD group showed typical top-down modulation of color stimuli, but impaired top-down modulation of onset stimuli. The results suggest that children with ASDs may be impaired at prioritizing dynamic stimuli; this has implications for social processing impairments in ASDs.     

The influence of task paradigm on motor imagery ability in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have difficulty imagining movements such that they conform to the customary temporal constraints of real performance. We examined whether this ability is influenced by the choice of task used to elicit motor imagery (MI). Performance of typically developing (TD) (n = 30) and children with DCD (n = 30) was compared on two tasks: the Visually Guided Pointing Task (VGPT) and the Computerized Virtual Radial Fitts Task (C-VRFT). Since the VGPT places higher demands on executive functions like working memory but requires less spatial planning, we reasoned that the C-VRFT would provide a purer measure of motor imagery (or simulation). Based on our earlier work, we predicted that imagery deficits in DCD would more likely manifest on the C-VRFT. Results showed high correlations between tasks in terms of executed and imagined movement time suggest that both tasks measure MI ability. However, group differences were more pronounced in the imagined condition of the radial Fitts’ task. Taken together, the more spatially complex C-VRFT appears to be a more sensitive measure of motor imagery, better discriminating between DCD and TD. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Executive function deficits in autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: examining profiles across domains and ages

Deficits in 'executive function' (EF) are characteristic of several clinical disorders, most notably Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In this study, age- and IQ-matched groups with ASD, ADHD, or typical development (TD) were compared on a battery of EF tasks tapping three core domains: response selection/inhibition, flexibility, and planning/working memory. Relations between EF, age and everyday difficulties (rated by parents and teachers) were also examined. Both clinical groups showed significant EF impairments compared with TD peers. The ADHD group showed greater inhibitory problems on a Go-no-Go task, while the ASD group was significantly worse on response selection/monitoring in a cognitive estimates task. Age-related improvements were clearer in ASD and TD than in ADHD. At older (but not younger) ages, the ASD group outperformed the ADHD group, performing as well as the TD group on many EF measures. EF scores were related to specific aspects of communicative and social adaptation, and negatively correlated with hyperactivity in ASD and TD. Within the present groups, the overall findings suggested less severe and persistent EF deficits in ASD (including Asperger Syndrome) than in ADHD.     

Can low-cost motion-tracking systems substitute a Polhemus system when researching social motor coordination in children?

Functionally stable and robust interpersonal motor coordination has been found to play an integral role in the effectiveness of social interactions. However, the motion-tracking equipment required to record and objectively measure the dynamic limb and body movements during social interaction has been very costly, cumbersome, and impractical within a non-clinical or non-laboratory setting. Here we examined whether three low-cost motion-tracking options (Microsoft Kinect skeletal tracking of either one limb or whole body and a video-based pixel change method) can be employed to investigate social motor coordination. Of particular interest was the degree to which these low-cost methods of motion tracking could be used to capture and index the coordination dynamics that occurred between a child and an experimenter for three simple social motor coordination tasks in comparison to a more expensive, laboratory-grade motion-tracking system (i.e., a Polhemus Latus system). Overall, the results demonstrated that these low-cost systems cannot substitute the Polhemus system in some tasks. However, the lower-cost Microsoft Kinect skeletal tracking and video pixel change methods were successfully able to index differences in social motor coordination in tasks that involved larger-scale, naturalistic whole body movements, which can be cumbersome and expensive to record with a Polhemus. However, we found the Kinect to be particularly vulnerable to occlusion and the pixel change method to movements that cross the video frame midline. Therefore, particular care needs to be taken in choosing the motion-tracking system that is best suited for the particular research.     

An exploratory study of gaze behaviour in young adults with developmental coordination disorder

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is characterized by substantial difficulties with motor coordination to the extent that it has a clear impact on the daily functioning of those who suffer from the disorder. Laboratory-based research indicated impaired oculomotor control in individuals with DCD. However, it is not clear how these oculomotor problems contribute to control and coordination in daily tasks. This study explored differences and similarities in gaze behaviour during reading and cup stacking between young adults with DCD and their matched typically developing counterparts (TD; aged 20–23 years). Gaze behaviour was recorded using eye-tracking, and hand movements were registered using a digital camera. Results of the reading tasks demonstrated similar behaviour between the groups, apart from a lower number of characters recorded per fixation in the DCD group. In cup stacking, the individuals with DCD were slower than their counterparts when three cups had to be displaced to a central target using the dominant hand. The gaze strategy of individuals with DCD involved systematic fixations on the cup or target prior to the hand movement to that cup or target, whereas these alternating saccades between cup and target were less obvious in the TD group. In the bimanual stacking task, where a pyramid of six cups had to be built on a central target using both hands, both groups mainly fixated the central target for the whole duration of the task, without distinct differences in gaze behaviour and duration of performance between individuals with and those without DCD. In conclusion, gaze behaviour of young adults with DCD shows differences from that of their typically developing counterparts that may be related to underlying oculomotor deficits in some but not all daily tasks.     

A trial-by-trial analysis reveals more intense physical activity is associated with better cognitive control performance in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Hyperactivity is a key symptom and the most observable manifestation of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The over-activity associated with ADHD can cause specific challenges in academic settings, extracurricular activities and social relationships. Cognitive control challenges are also well established in ADHD. The current study included 44 children between the ages of 10 and 17 diagnosed with ADHD or who were typically developing (TD), all of whom had no psychiatric co-morbidity or significant learning disorders. Participants wore an actometer on their ankle while performing a flanker paradigm in order to objectively measure their rates of activity in association with cognitive control. Analyses assessed the relationship between frequency and intensity of activity to task accuracy on a trial-by-trial basis. A significant interaction effect between group and performance revealed that more intense movement was associated with better performance in the ADHD group but not in the TD group. The ADHD group demonstrated more intense activity than the TD group during correct (but not error) trials. Within-group, children with ADHD generated higher intensity movements in their correct trials compared to their error trials, whereas the TD group did not demonstrate any within-group differences. These findings suggest that excessive motoric activity associated with clinically significant ADHD symptoms may reflect compensatory efforts to modulate attention and alertness. Future research should systematically explore the relationship between motion in ADHD and how it might be used to improve cognitive performance.     

Beery VMI performance in autism spectrum disorder

Few studies have examined the visuomotor integration (VMI) abilities of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). An all-male sample consisting of 56 ASD participants (ages 3–23 years) and 36 typically developing (TD) participants (ages 4–26 years) completed the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI) as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. Participants were also administered standardized measures of intellectual functioning and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), which assesses autism and autism-like traits. The ASD group performed significantly lower on the Beery VMI and on all IQ measures compared to the TD group. VMI performance was significantly correlated with full scale IQ (FSIQ), performance IQ (PIQ), and verbal IQ (VIQ) in the TD group only. However, when FSIQ was taken into account, no significant Beery VMI differences between groups were observed. Only one TD participant scored 1.5 standard deviations (SDs) below the Beery VMI normative sample mean, in comparison to 21% of the ASD sample. As expected, the ASD group was rated as having significantly higher levels of social impairment on the SRS compared to the TD group across all major domains. However, level of functioning on the SRS was not associated with Berry VMI performance. These findings demonstrate that a substantial number of individuals with ASD experience difficulties compared to TD in performing VMI-related tasks, and that VMI is likely affected by general cognitive ability. The fact that lowered Beery VMI performance occurred only within a subset of individuals with ASD and did not correlate with SRS would indicate that visuomotor deficits are not a core feature of ASD, even though they present at a higher rate of impairment than observed in TD participants.     

Linking metaphor comprehension with analogical reasoning: Evidence from typical development and autism spectrum disorder

We examined the relationship between metaphor comprehension and verbal analogical reasoning in young adults who were either typically developing (TD) or diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ASD sample was highly educated and high in verbal ability, and closely matched to a subset of TD participants on age, gender, educational background, and verbal ability. Additional TD participants with a broader range of abilities were also tested. Each participant solved sets of verbal analogies and metaphors in verification formats, allowing measurement of both accuracy and reaction times. Measures of individual differences in vocabulary, verbal working memory, and autistic traits were also obtained. Accuracy for both the verbal analogy and the metaphor task was very similar across the ASD and matched TD groups. However, reaction times on both tasks were longer for the ASD group. Additionally, stronger correlations between verbal analogical reasoning and working memory capacity in the ASD group indicated that processing verbal analogies was more effortful for them. In the case of both groups, accuracy on the metaphor and analogy tasks was correlated. A mediation analysis revealed that after controlling for working memory capacity, the inter-task correlation could be accounted for by the mediating variable of vocabulary knowledge, suggesting that the primary common mechanisms linking the two tasks involve language skills.     

Pitch direction ability predicts melodic perception in autism

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often present atypical auditory perception. Previous work has reported both enhanced low-level pitch discrimination and superior abilities to detect local pitch structure on higher-level melodic tasks in ASD. However, it is unclear how low and high levels of auditory perception are related in ASD or typical development (TD), or how this relationship might change across development and stimulus presentation rates. To these aims, in the present study, children with ASD and TD were tested on a low-level pitch direction discrimination task and a high-level melodic global-local task. Groups performed similarly on both of these auditory tasks. Moreover, individual differences in low-level pitch direction ability predicted performance on the higher-level global-local task, with a stronger relationship in ASD. Age did not affect the relationship between low-level and high-level pitch performance in either ASD or TD. However, there was a more positive effect of age on the high-level global-local task performance in TD than ASD. Finally, there was no effect of stimulus rate on the relationship between low-level and high-level pitch performance in either group. These findings provide a better understanding of how perception is associated across levels of processing in ASD versus TD. This work helps to better understand individual differences in auditory perception and to refine ASD phenotypes.     

Effect of dual tasking on a dynamic balance task in children with and without DCD

The purpose of this study was to compare performance of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and typically developing (TD) children in a dual task paradigm with a dynamic balance task on the Wii Fit as primary task and a concurrent cognitive (counting) or a concurrent bimanual fine motor task as secondary tasks.Using a cross-sectional design, 25 children with DCD and 38 TD children were assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2nd edition (MABC-2) and Divided Attention (DA) task of the KiTAP. Next, the single- and dual-tasks were performed and the level of interference or facilitation of the dual tasks was calculated. Regression analysis determined the predictive value of the DA and MABC-2 component balance outcomes on the dual task performance. On the motor and attentional tasks, the group of children with DCD scored significantly below the level of the TD children. The dual task effect showed similar interference and facilitation of tasks in the different dual-task conditions in both groups.In the dual task-cognitive condition, the divided attention abilities and the MABC-2 balance score predicted 25% of the Wii Fit dynamic balance task performance, whereas in the dual task-motor condition this was higher (31.6%). In both conditions, DA was a stronger predictor than MABC balance score and appears to be an important factor to consider when developing motor task training for children with DCD.     

自闭症儿童利用社会性注意线索习得词语的眼动研究

本研究采用眼动技术考察18名自闭症儿童利用社会性注意线索习得词语的能力。结果表明：1）自闭症儿童具有利用他人视线习得词语的能力;2）不同视线对自闭症儿童的词语习得产生不同的影响;3）自闭症儿童视线追随行为的潜在机制与普通儿童存在差异,自闭症儿童的视线追随行为可能是意识性的诱发行为而普通儿童则是反射性的自发行为。     

Can time-based decay explain temporal distinctiveness effects in task switching?

In task switching, extending the response–cue interval (RCI) reduces the switch cost—the detriment to performance when switching compared to repeating tasks. This reduction has been used as evidence for the existence of task-set decay processes. Recently, this has been challenged by the observation of sequential dependencies on the RCI effect: switch cost is only reduced at longer RCIs when the previous trial had a short RCI. This trial-wise variation of RCI is thought to affect the temporal distinctiveness (TD) of a previous task's episodic trace, affecting the probability of its automatic retrieval on the current trial; importantly, TD is thought to be independent of the current trial's RCI. The present study highlights a dependency between the current RCI and TD, and demonstrates that a decay model can reproduce some patterns of data attributed to TD. Further, the decay account makes a strong prediction when TD is held constant: repetition response times should slow as the RCI increases, and switch response times should be facilitated. This prediction was tested via re-analysis of extant data and three experiments. The re-analysis provided some evidence for the decay account, but Experiments 1 and 2 report slowing for task repetition and switch trials, which cannot be explained by a task-set decay process. Experiment 3, which utilized tasks requiring perceptual judgements, showed small evidence for decay. We conclude that the data are largely consistent with the TD account and that the evidence for decay of higher-level task-sets is not convincing.