Instructions to attend to an observed action increase imitation in autistic adults

Autism ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 730-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Gowen ◽  
Andrius Vabalas ◽  
Alexander J Casson ◽  
Ellen Poliakoff
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Attention ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Hand Movement ◽  
Autistic Group ◽  
Instruction Condition ◽  
Following Instructions ◽  
Autistic Adults ◽  
Movement Imitation ◽  
Vertical Elevation

This study investigated whether reduced visual attention to an observed action might account for altered imitation in autistic adults. A total of 22 autistic and 22 non-autistic adults observed and then imitated videos of a hand producing sequences of movements that differed in vertical elevation while their hand and eye movements were recorded. Participants first performed a block of imitation trials with general instructions to imitate the action. They then performed a second block with explicit instructions to attend closely to the characteristics of the movement. Imitation was quantified according to how much participants modulated their movement between the different heights of the observed movements. In the general instruction condition, the autistic group modulated their movements significantly less compared to the non-autistic group. However, following instructions to attend to the movement, the autistic group showed equivalent imitation modulation to the non-autistic group. Eye movement recording showed that the autistic group spent significantly less time looking at the hand movement for both instruction conditions. These findings show that visual attention contributes to altered voluntary imitation in autistic individuals and have implications for therapies involving imitation as well as for autistic people’s ability to understand the actions of others.

scholarly journals Preservation of eye movements in Parkinson’s disease is stimulus and task specific

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolande Fooken ◽  
Pooja Patel ◽  
Christina B. Jones ◽  
Martin J. McKeown ◽  
Miriam Spering
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Hand Movement ◽  
Moving Target ◽  
Moving Targets ◽  
Anti Saccades ◽  
Oculomotor Function ◽  
And Task

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that includes motor impairments such as tremor, bradykinesia, and postural instability. Although eye movement deficits are commonly found in saccade and pursuit tasks, preservation of oculomotor function has also been reported. Here we investigate specific task and stimulus conditions under which oculomotor function in PD is preserved. Sixteen PD patients and eighteen healthy, age-matched controls completed a battery of movement tasks that included stationary or moving targets eliciting reactive or deliberate eye movements: pro-saccades, anti-saccades, visually-guided pursuit, and rapid go/no-go manual interception. Compared to controls, patients demonstrated systematic impairments in tasks with stationary targets: pro-saccades were hypometric and anti-saccades were incorrectly initiated toward the cued target in about 35% of trials compared to 14% errors in controls. In patients, task errors were linked to short latency saccades, indicating abnormalities in inhibitory control. However, patients’ eye movements in response to dynamic targets were relatively preserved. PD patients were able to track and predict a disappearing moving target and make quick go/no-go decisions as accurately as controls. Patients’ interceptive hand movements were slower on average but initiated earlier, indicating adaptive processes to compensate for motor slowing. We conclude that PD patients demonstrate stimulus- and task-dependency of oculomotor impairments and propose that preservation of eye and hand movement function in PD is linked to a separate functional pathway through the SC-brainstem loop that bypasses the fronto-basal ganglia network.Significance StatementEye movements are a promising clinical tool to aid in the diagnosis of movement disorders and to monitor disease progression. Although Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients show some oculomotor abnormalities, it is not clear whether previously-described eye movement impairments are task specific. We assessed eye movements in PD under different visual (stationary vs. moving targets) and movement (reactive vs. deliberate) conditions. We demonstrate that PD patients are able to accurately track moving objects but make inaccurate eye movements towards stationary targets. The preservation of eye movements towards dynamic stimuli might enable patients to accurately act upon the predicted motion path of the moving target. These results can inform the development of tools for the rehabilitation or maintenance of functional performance.

scholarly journals Eye Pointing in Stereoscopic Displays

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiuhsiang Joe Lin ◽  
Retno Widyaningrum
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Movement Time ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Hand Movement ◽  
Stereoscopic Displays ◽  
Time Index ◽  
Fitts Law ◽  
Different Levels

This study investigated eye pointing in stereoscopic displays. Ten participants performed 18 tapping tasks in stereoscopic displays with three different levels of parallax (at the screen, 20 cm and 50 cm in front of the screen). The results showed that parallax had significant effects on hand movement time, eye movement time, index of performance in hand click and eye gaze. The movement time was shorter and the performance was better when the target was at the screen, compared to the conditions when the targets were seen at 20 cm and 50 cm in front of the screen. Furthermore, the findings of this study supports that the eye movement in stereoscopic displays follows the Fitts’ law. The proposed algorithm was effective on the eye gaze selection to improve the good fit of eye movement in stereoscopic displays.

Wie werden Verbesserungen nach Typ-II-Traumata infolge unterschiedlicher traumabearbeitender Interventionen eingeschätzt?

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sören Kliem* ◽  
Christoph Kröger* ◽  
Nico Bayat Sarmadi ◽  
Joachim Kosfelder
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Bei der Behandlung der posttraumatischen Belastungsstörung (PTBS) nach einem Typ-II-Trauma werden im klinischen Alltag gegenwärtig unterschiedliche traumabearbeitende Interventionen eingesetzt. Fragestellung: Wie werden die Verbesserungen in verschiedenen Symptombereichen (plötzliches Wiedererleben, Vermeidung, Übererregung, Dissoziation und zusätzliche Symptomatik) in Abhängigkeit von dem Einsatz unterschiedlicher traumabearbeitender Interventionen von den Behandlern retrospektiv eingeschätzt? Methode: Aus einer Umfrage unter Psychologischen Psychotherapeuten (N = 272) wurden die Fälle ausgewählt, bei denen die Therapeuten (1) ein Ereignis nannten, das einem Typ-II-Trauma zugeordnet werden konnte, und (2) angaben, traumabearbeitende Interventionen gemäß der traumafokussierenden, kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie (TF-KVT), der Methode des Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR-Methode) oder der Psychodynamisch-imaginativen Traumatherapie (PITT) durchgeführt zu haben (n = 37). Außerdem beurteilten die Therapeuten retrospektiv die Verbesserungen in den Symptombereichen zu Therapieende. Ergebnisse: Über 40% der Therapeuten gaben an, die Vorstellungsübungen bzw. Bearbeitung des Täter Introjekts gemäß der PITT eingesetzt zu haben, gefolgt von den traumabearbeitenden Interventionen der TF KVT (35.1%) und der EMDR Methode (21.6%). Die Therapeuten, die Interventionen eines der beiden zuletzt genannten Verfahren einsetzten, schätzten die Verbesserungen in den verschiedenen Symptombereichen höher ein als diejenigen, die angaben, eine Intervention gemäß der PITT durchgeführt zu haben. Schlussfolgerungen: Die retrospektiven Einschätzungen der Verbesserungen durch die Therapeuten stehen im Einklang mit den Empfehlungen der Behandlungsleitlinien zur PTBS.

Age Differences in Eye Movements During Reading: Degenerative Problems or Compensatory Strategy?

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-311
Author(s):  
José David Moreno ◽  
José A. León ◽  
Lorena A. M. Arnal ◽  
Juan Botella
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Eye Movement ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Aging Effects ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Eye Movements During Reading

Abstract. We report the results of a meta-analysis of 22 experiments comparing the eye movement data obtained from young ( Mage = 21 years) and old ( Mage = 73 years) readers. The data included six eye movement measures (mean gaze duration, mean fixation duration, total sentence reading time, mean number of fixations, mean number of regressions, and mean length of progressive saccade eye movements). Estimates were obtained of the typified mean difference, d, between the age groups in all six measures. The results showed positive combined effect size estimates in favor of the young adult group (between 0.54 and 3.66 in all measures), although the difference for the mean number of fixations was not significant. Young adults make in a systematic way, shorter gazes, fewer regressions, and shorter saccadic movements during reading than older adults, and they also read faster. The meta-analysis results confirm statistically the most common patterns observed in previous research; therefore, eye movements seem to be a useful tool to measure behavioral changes due to the aging process. Moreover, these results do not allow us to discard either of the two main hypotheses assessed for explaining the observed aging effects, namely neural degenerative problems and the adoption of compensatory strategies.

Eye-movement measurement techniques.

1975 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence R. Young ◽  
David Sheena
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Measurement Techniques
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