The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Intact automatic imitation of human and robot actions in autism spectrum disorders
Open accessAbstract
The existence of a specialized imitation module in humans is hotly debated. Studies suggesting a specific imitation impairment in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) support a modular view. However, the voluntary imitation tasks used in these studies (which require socio-cognitive abilities in addition to imitation for successful performance) cannot support claims of a specific impairment. Accordingly, an automatic imitation paradigm (a ‘cleaner’ measure of imitative ability) was used to assess the imitative ability of 16 adults with ASD and 16 non-autistic matched control participants. Participants performed a prespecified hand action in response to observed hand actions performed either by a human or a robotic hand. On compatible trials the stimulus and response actions matched, while on incompatible trials the two actions did not match. Replicating previous findings, the Control group showed an automatic imitation effect: responses on compatible trials were faster than those on incompatible trials. This effect was greater when responses were made to human than to robotic actions (‘animacy bias’). The ASD group also showed an automatic imitation effect and a larger animacy bias than the Control group. We discuss these findings with reference to the literature on imitation in ASD and theories of imitation.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“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 Bird, Leighton, Press, & Heyes, 2007
Citations
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,845
Fodor, J. A. (1983) · doi:10.7551/mitpress/4737.001.0001 · Cited by 7,734
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., Pickles, A., & Rutter, M. (2000) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1005592401947 · Cited by 7,520
Cummins, R., & Fodor, J. A. (1985) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184717 · Cited by 4,791
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III
Ryan, J. J., & Lopez, S. J. (2001) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1185-4_2 · Cited by 3,680
Cortical mechanisms of human imitation
Iacoboni, M., Woods, R. P., Brass, M., Bekkering, H., Mazziotta, J. C., & Rizzolatti, G. (1999) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.286.5449.2526 · Cited by 2,683
Development and neurophysiology of mentalizing
Frith, U., & Frith, C. D. (2003) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1218 · Cited by 2,306
Klin, A., Jones, W., Schultz, R., Volkmar, F., & Cohen, D. (2002) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.59.9.809 · Cited by 2,120
The Neural Basis of Mentalizing
Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2006) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.001 · Cited by 1,855
Dapretto, M., Davies, M. S., Pfeifer, J. H., Scott, A. A., Sigman, M., Bookheimer, S. Y., & Iacoboni, M. (2006) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1611 · Cited by 1,694
An Interference Effect of Observed Biological Movement on Action
Kilner, J. M., Paulignan, Y., & Blakemore, S. J. (2003) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/s0960-9822(03)00165-9 · Cited by 844
Imitation performance in toddlers with autism and those with other developmental disorders
Rogers, S. J., Hepburn, S. L., Stackhouse, T., & Wehner, E. (2003) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00162 · Cited by 648
Two forms of ideomotor apraxia
Heilman, K. M., Rothi, L. J. G., & Valenstein, E. (1982) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.32.4.342 · Cited by 586
Imitation: Is cognitive neuroscience solving the correspondence problem?
Brass, M., & Heyes, C. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.007 · Cited by 580
Self-citationA Systematic Review of Action Imitation in Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Williams, J. H. G., Whiten, A., & Singh, T. (2004) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000029551.56735.3a · Cited by 565
Autism as an executive disorder
Russell, J. A. (1997) · Cited by 483
McIntosh, D. N., Reichmann‐Decker, A., Winkielman, P., & Wilbarger, J. L. (2006) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00492.x · Cited by 463
Neural mechanisms of imitation and ‘mirror neuron’ functioning in autistic spectrum disorder
Williams, J. H. G., Waiter, G. D., Gilchrist, A., Perrett, D. I., Murray, A. D., & Whiten, A. (2005) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.06.010 · Cited by 405
The Human Premotor Cortex Is 'Mirror' Only for Biological Actions
Tai, Y., Scherfler, C., Brooks, D. J., Sawamoto, N., & Castiello, U. (2004) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2004.01.005 · Cited by 352
Abnormal use of facial information in high-functioning autism
Spezio, M. L., Adolphs, R., Hurley, R. S. E., & Piven, J. (2007) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0232-9 · Cited by 352
Hamilton, A. F. D. C., Brindley, R., & Uta Frith, A. (2007) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.11.022 · Cited by 309
Experience modulates automatic imitation
Heyes, C., Bird, G., Johnson, H., & Haggard, P. (2005) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.09.009 · Cited by 290
Self-citationThe inhibition of imitative and overlearned responses: a functional double dissociation
Brass, M., Derrfuss, J., & von Cramon, D. Y. (2005) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2004.06.018 · Cited by 274
Robotic movement elicits automatic imitation
Press, C., Bird, G., Flach, R., & Heyes, C. M. (2005) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.08.020 · Cited by 249
Self-citationAttention does not modulate neural responses to social stimuli in autism spectrum disorders
Bird, G., Catmur, C., Silani, G., Frith, C., & Frith, U. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.02.037 · Cited by 215
Self-citationUnderstanding of Others' Intentions in Children with Autism
Carpenter, M., Pennington, B. F., & Rogers, S. J. (2001) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1013251112392 · Cited by 176
Yang, M. S., & Gill, M. (2006) · International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2006.12.002 · Cited by 117
Far from action-blind: Representation of others' actions in individuals with Autism
Sebanz, N., Knoblich, G., Stumpf, L., & Prinz, W. (2005) · Cognitive Neuropsychology · doi:10.1080/02643290442000121 · Cited by 117
Imitative response tendencies in patients with frontal brain lesions.
Brass, M., Derrfuss, J., Matthes-von Cramon, G., & von Cramon, D. Y. (2003) · Neuropsychology · doi:10.1037/0894-4105.17.2.265 · Cited by 109
Autism as an Executive Disorder (DRAFT)
(1998) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780198523499.001.0001 · Cited by 79
Normal movement reading in Asperger subjects
Avikainen, S., Kulomäki, T., & Hari, R. (1999) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/00001756-199911260-00001 · Cited by 78
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit: interpretations and misinterpretations
Rizzolatti, G., & Sinigaglia, C. (2010) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2805 · Cited by 1,680
Precise minds in uncertain worlds: Predictive coding in autism.
Van de Cruys, S., Evers, K., Van der Hallen, R., Van Eylen, L., Boets, B., de-Wit, L., & Wagemans, J. (2014) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0037665 · Cited by 885
The clinical use of robots for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A critical review
Diehl, J. J., Schmitt, L., Villano, M. A., & Crowell, C. R. (2011) · Research in Autism · doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2011.05.006 · Cited by 632
Autism and social robotics: A systematic review
Pennisi, P., Tonacci, A., Tartarisco, G., Billeci, L., Ruta, L., Gangemi, S., & Pioggia, G. (2015) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.1527 · Cited by 501
Interpersonal synchrony: a survey of evaluation methods across disciplines.
Delaherche, E., Chetouani, M., Mahdhaoui, A., Saint-Georges, C., Viaux, S., & Cohen, D. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing · doi:10.1109/t-affc.2012.12 · Cited by 474
Metadata
- Authors
- Bird, G., Leighton, J., Press, C., & Heyes, C.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2007-10-03
- Volume
- 274
- Issue
- 1628
- Pages
- 3027-3031
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC2291158
- OpenAlex
- W2109009094
- Cited by
- 242
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 15.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CentAUR (University of Reading) (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (RES-538-28-1001)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, automatic imitation, imitation, robotic hand, social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Autistic Disorder, Female, Humans, Imitative Behavior, Male, Middle Aged, Photic Stimulation, Robotics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
