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Human autonomy and the frontal lobes. Part I: Imitation and utilization behavior: a neuropsychological study of 75 patients.

A type of pathological behavior, imitation behavior (IB), is newly described. In this behavior patients imitate the examiner's gestures, although not instructed to do so. Patients explain that they thought they had to imitate the examiner. IB is the first stage of utilization behavior (UB). Neuropsychological examination of 40 patients with IB, of 35 with UB, and of 50 disease controls demonstrates the existence of a frontal syndrome and two determining features of such behavior: dependence on (1) the social and (2) the physical environments. Loss of intellectual control was also required for the occurrence of such behavior. UB and/or IB were present in 96% of the 29 patients with focal lesions of the frontal lobes. Computed tomographic scans in 26 of these patients showed involvement of the inferior half of the anterior part of one or both frontal lobes. IB and UB are interpreted as release of parietal lobe activities, resulting from impairment of frontal lobe inhibition.

Behavior

Imitation: a mechanism of play behavior.

Imitation, as a critical mechanism of play behavior, is a primary learning process in child development that has received scant attention in therapists' work with children. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize a system of imitation for occupational therapy within the framework of play behavior, and to analyze this process by using system categories. A case is presented to show how the imitation process can be specifically analyzed and influenced. The imitation process, when applied in clinical practice, could broaden the perspective of existing clinical interventions with children.

Child

Behavioral antecedents of pediatric poisonings.

To determine how the behavior of 3- to 7-year-olds might contribute to pediatric poisoning, a taxonomy of pediatric ingestions was conceptualized and tested. Thirty-nine of 50 caretakers who called the Middle Tennessee Poison Center about poison ingestions by a child in this age group provided details of the poisoning history and family characteristics. Histories were coded by a psychologist according to the 14 antecedent conditions of the poisoning taxonomy. Improper storage, noncompliant behavior, curiosity, misinterpretation of the substance, improper child monitoring, and imitative behavior were judged the most common antecedent conditions of these ingestions. Lack of knowledge of poison prevention methods was infrequently coded. Noncompliant behavior as a condition of the poisoning was associated with parental reports of general child behavioral problems. Ingestions involving imitative behavior were associated with parental report of poor social supports. The findings highlight the need to address behavior in designing poison prevention programs.

Child

Psychological assessment of adolescents and adults with autism.

This paper reports the results of a small follow-up study on 17 autistic adolescents and young adults who are also intellectually retarded. The aim is to examine how far scores on the Psychoeducational Profile (PEP) predicts scores on the Adolescent and Adult Psychoeducational Profile (AAPEP) 5 years later. One subscale eye-hand coordination significantly predicts the scores on three subscales of the AAPEP: Vocational Skills, Independent Functioning, and Vocational Behavior. Imitation predicts Interpersonal Behavior. Fine Motor predicts Leisure Skills and Cognitive Performance predicts Functional Communication. Results are interpreted in terms of the implications for educational intervention programs with autistic adolescents and adults.

Activities of Daily Living

Developmental analysis of outerdirectedness in noninstitutionalized EMR children.

Outerdirectedness has been found in nonretarded and institutionalized retarded children to be related inversely to cognitive level and directly to history of failure experiences. The developmental nature of outerdirectedness was investigated among noninstitutionalized EMR children using two independent measures of outerdirectedness. Forty subjects, comprising two MA levels, were given a block-design task that was equally difficult for both MA groups. Glancing from the task was found to be related inversely to MA. On a task in which subjects were scored for the amount of imitation of the experimenter's behavior, imitation was also found to be related inversely to MA. However, imitation and glancing were not correlated, suggesting that they may tap different aspects of outerdirectedness.

Adolescent

Imitation in EMR boys: model competency and age.

The effects of model age and competence on the imitation behavior of 80 EMR boys were investigated. Subjects viewed a videotape in which either an adult or a peer performed a motor task with either high or low competence. In addition, the models engaged in four different kinds of off-task social behavior. The results indicated that the boys imitated the off-task social behavior emitted by high-competent and peer models more than low-competent and adult models. In addition, high-competent models were imitated more than were low-competent models on the motor-skill task, but no significant age effect was found. The efficacy of modeling as an instructional strategy was discussed, and we concluded that EMR boys should be exposed to competent models, especially peers, who emit a repertoire of adaptive behavior.

Age Factors

The development of imitation by reinforcing behavioral similarity to a model.

This research demonstrated some of the conditions under which retarded children can be taught to imitate the actions of adults. Before the experiment, the subjects were without spontaneous imitative behavior, either vocal or motor. Each subject was taught, with food as reinforcement, a series of responses identical to responses demonstrated by an experimenter; i.e., each response was reinforced only if it was identical to a prior demonstration by an experimenter. Initially, intensive shaping was required to establish matching responses by the subjects. In the course of acquiring a variety of such responses, the subjects' probability of immediate imitation of each new demonstration, before direct training, greatly increased. Later in the study, certain new imitations, even though perfect, were never reinforced; yet as long as some imitative responses were reinforced, all remained at high strength. This imitativeness was then used to establish initial verbal repertoires in two subjects.

Child

[Suicide in adolescence].

With 1500 death each year, suicide does represent the second cause of death in young people (between 15 and 25 years). There is a clear increase of suicide rate during adolescence, with an higher rate of suicide attempts in females, but an higher mortality in boys. Suicidal behaviors in adolescents are clinically characterized by impulsivity, rhythmicity (during schooling) and seasonality. Risks factors are numerous. However, psychiatric disorders represent the main one, especially depressive states, conduct disorders and their association. In adolescents familial and environment events may have an important role in suicidal behaviors, especially the role of imitation behavior. These different factors interact and constitute dynamic models. The role of each factor can be involved differently considering the sex. Dangerosity of suicide in adolescents should not be under-estimated, as it has been the case in the past. It is particularly true if we consider the high rate of recidive (approximatively 50%) in this population. These data emphasized the importance of a careful evaluation of all suicidal adolescents more precisely of depressive symptoms and aggressive and/or delinquent behavior and of prevention.

Adolescent

[Imitation and utilization behavior in major depressive states].

Imitation and utilization behaviour (IB ; UB) have been described in lesions or deafferentations of the frontal lobes. Both reflect a loss of the patients' autonomy. IB and UB having been encountered in a case of melancholia, a systematic study has been undertaken in psychiatric departments. Sixty patients have been examined among whom 18 had a major depressive episode and 19 a dysthymic episode. IB or UB or both were present in every case of the first group, in 3 cases of the second one. Such data show first an unexpected focal specific neurological sign in a psychiatric disease. Second, they suggest a relationship with the frontal hypoactivity shown by PET studies in major depressive episodes. Such frontal hypoactivity should not be viewed as the cause of major depression but as a concomitant disorder. Its role in the awareness and expression of the thymic disturbance is discussed.

Behavior

Imitation in the family: a study of older parents and their adult sons.

Older parents and their adult sons (fifteen father-mother-son triads) participated in this study which investigated whether imitative behavior is prominent in these families and whether interpersonal perceptions are related to the degree of imitation. Both perceptual and moral imitation tasks were used and personality descriptions were obtained on dimensions of activity, potency, and evaluation. Adult sons were found to imitate their parents on both tasks and particularly their fathers on moral issues. Older parents also were found to imitate their sons in a possible "reversal" of the direction of identification. Differential patterns of interpersonal perceptions were related to imitation for the three groups. Potential theoretical explanations are discussed.

Adult

Comparison of nonretarded and mentally retarded children on tasks involving direct and rule-governed imitation.

The influence of intellectual level and social reinforcement on imitation learning was examined. Tasks involving direct and rule-governed imitation of a mode were presented to 20 mentally retarded and 20 nonretarded children. The children within each group were randomly assigned to either an affective ("good-fine") or an informative ("correct-right") social reinforcement condition. Reinforcement, administered on a fixed ration (FR4) schedule, was contingent on the child's imitative behavior. A multivariate analysis of variance showed that both the Population X Reinforcement Type interaction and the Reinforcement main effect were significant. Univariate follow-up tests showed that only rule-governed imitation contributed significantly to the multivariate effects. Analysis of simple effects indicated that retarded children performed optimally under affective reinforcement, while the nonretarded children performed highest under informative reinforcement.

Adolescent

Fictional depiction of suicide in television films and imitation effects.

Studies of imitative suicide by viewers of fictional depictions of suicide in television films have produced contradictory findings. Using a nationwide sample of cases of suicide, the author found no evidence for increased numbers of suicides after broadcast of three films. However, some support was found for an imitation effect specific to the depiction of a suicide method in one of these films (p less than 0.05). To the extent that fictional presentations of suicide may serve as stimuli for imitative behavior, the effect appears to depend on a complex interaction among characteristics of the stimulus, the observer of that stimulus, and conditions of time and geography.

Adolescent

Newborn infants imitate adult facial gestures.

Newborn infants ranging in age from 0.7 to 71 hours old were tested for their ability to imitate 2 adult facial gestures: mouth opening and tongue protrusion. Each subject acted as his or her own control in a repeated-measures design counterbalanced for order of stimulus presentation. The subjects were tested in low illumination using infrared-sensitive video equipment. The videotaped records were scored by an observer who was uninformed about the gesture shown to the infants. Both frequency and duration of neonatal mouth openings and tongue protrusions were tallied. The results showed that newborn infants can imitate both adult displays. 3 possible mechanisms underlying this early imitative behavior are suggested: instrumental or associative learning, innate releasing mechanisms, and active intermodal matching. It is argued that the data favor the third account.

Facial Expression