Hyperimitation of actions is related to reduced understanding of others’ minds in autism spectrum conditions
Abstract
Background Anecdotal evidence has noted that individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) frequently exhibit heightened spontaneous imitative behavior, with symptoms of echolalia and echopraxia. This is contrasted by empiric reports that ASC results in decreased imitation and an underlying deficit in the mirror system, leading to impaired social understanding. Thus, it remains unclear whether automatic imitation is enhanced in ASC and how this is related to poorer social abilities.Methods This study investigated spontaneous imitation in 18 high-functioning adults with ASC and 18 age- and IQ-matched control participants during a simple imitation inhibition task. Mentalizing was experimentally assessed in the same participants using both behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging measures, as was social interaction using an observational measure.Results Individuals with ASC showed increased imitation of hand actions compared with control participants and this was associated with reduced mentalizing and poorer reciprocal social interaction abilities. In the functional magnetic resonance imaging mentalizing paradigm, ASC participants with increased imitation scores showed less brain activation in areas often found to be active in mental state attribution, namely the medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction.Conclusions The results confirm the presence of hyperimitation in ASC, which is accompanied by reduced social cognition, suggesting that a general imitation impairment and a global mirror system deficit are absent. These findings offer an explanation for echopractic features based on theories of atypical functioning of top-down modulation processes in autism.
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The mechanisms that inhibit imitation are considered at least partly separate from general inhibitory control.
“Imitation-inhibition and general inhibition processes are thus thought to be at least partially distinct.[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]”
From Enhanced Automatic Action Imitation and Intact Imitation-Inhibition in Schizophrenia (2019) · cites this paper as [36]
Weaker top-down control of imitation has been linked to poorer mentalizing and perspective taking, abilities that are impaired in schizophrenia.
“Interestingly, reduced top-down modulation of imitation has also been associated with reduced mentalizing and perspective-taking ability, 36,40 abilities known to be impaired in schizophrenia.45”
From Enhanced Automatic Action Imitation and Intact Imitation-Inhibition in Schizophrenia (2019) · cites this paper as [36]
Hyper-imitation is observed with increased autism spectrum disorder symptom severity.
“hyper-imitation can be observed with increased ASD symptom severity (Bird, Leighton, Press, & Heyes, 2007;Sowden, Koehne, Catmur, Dziobek, & Bird, 2016;Spengler, Bird, & Brass, 2010).”
From Interplay of self-other distinction and cognitive control mechanisms in a social automatic imitation task: An ERP study (2021) · cites this paper as Spengler, Bird, & Brass, 2010
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- Authors
- Spengler, S., Bird, G., & Brass, M.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Spengler, Stephanie
- Venue
- Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-12
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1148-1155
- ISSN
- 0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1993376650
- Cited by
- 170
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2025: 9 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 5.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Community's Sixth Framework Programme (012929)
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, spontaneous imitation, echopraxia, echolalia, mentalization, theory of mind, social cognition, mirror system, medial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, reciprocal social interaction, top-down modulation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Autistic Disorder, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Interpersonal Relations, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Psychomotor Performance, Asperger Syndrome, Theory of Mind
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