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Defining the social deficits of autism: the contribution of non-verbal communication measures.

Young autistic children were compared to normal and control samples on measures of non-verbal communication skills and object play skills. Deficits in non-verbal indicating behaviors best discriminated the children diagnosed as autistic from the other groups. Although the autistic children also exhibited deficits in object play behavior, these deficits did not add appreciably to the discriminant function based on the non-verbal communication behaviors. These results suggest that a deficit in the development of non-verbal indicating behaviors is a significant characteristic of young children who receive the diagnosis of autism.

Autistic Disorder↗

Interview behavior of and impressions made by mentally retarded adults.

Interviews were held with 88 mentally retarded institutionalized adults in order to identify types of verbal and nonverbal behavior that are associated with making positive or negative impressions on others and that, therefore, might be priority targets for communication-training efforts. Video-taped segments of the interviews were shown to panels of 4 graduate students in special education and 6 students in rehabilitation counseling, who recorded ratings of personality and competence for each interviewee. Ten predictors were found to account for 69 percent and 68 percent of the variance in overall ratings given by the special education and rehabilitation groups, respectively. Certain types of verbal behavior, which were relatively independent of the nonverbal behavior, were found to be the most potent predictors. Subjects who gave adequate responses to questions and whose speech was understandable were more likely to make favorable impressions.

Attitude to Health↗

The behavioral inhibition system and the verbal information pathway to children's fears.

The behavioral inhibition system (BIS) is the neurological substrate of trait anxiety and is linked to the development of anxiety disorders. Three experiments are reported that investigate the moderating influence of the BIS on 1 pathway to fear: threat information. In all studies, children were given verbal information about a set of novel animals, and their BIS sensitivity was measured. The results suggest that BIS sensitivity (a) facilitates attentional biases to stimuli associated with threat information and (b) facilitates behavioral avoidance of novel stimuli associated with threat information. This suggests a possible mechanism through which the BIS may promote the acquisition of animal fears.

Child↗

Application of social skills training in a group of institutionalized aggressive elderly subjects.

A social skills training program consisting of instructions, modeling, role playing, and feedback was carried out with a group of 6 verbally aggressive institutionalized elderly patients. Dependent measures included confirmed incidents of verbal aggressive behavior monitored across an ABAB design with a 5-month follow-up period. Results indicated that verbally aggressive behavior can be significantly decreased in a group-training setting and subsequently generalized to ward and other socialized behavior. Ancillary aspects of the study include the role of social reinforcement, participant modeling, and staff attitude, perception, and motivation. Implications for future research are discussed.

Aged↗

Repetitive behaviour in Alzheimer's disease: description, correlates and functions.

BACKGROUND: Repetitive behaviour is among the most common and burdensome of the behavioural and psychological symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet little research has been done to investigate its nature or correlates. Memory impairment may account for repetitive questioning, but its possible role in other repetitive behaviours is unclear. Attention and executive dysfunction may account for both repetitive speech and actions. The role of mood also merits investigation. OBJECTIVES: To investigate cognitive and affective differences between patients with and without repetitive behaviours, and to identify themes and carer attributions for the function of such behaviours. METHODS: Fifty-four participants aged > or = 65, meeting NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for probable AD, were assessed using the MMSE, WMS-III word list, Trailmaking test, Stroop, Modified WCST, Cornell Scale for Depression, DEX and a repetitive behaviour questionnaire. Regression analyses were used to identify significant predictors of repetitive behaviour. RESULTS: Repetitive behaviours were manifest in 87% of the sample, with questions (68.5%) and statements/stories (61.1%) the most common types. Repetitive questions were predicted by high MMSE score (p = 0.013), low immediate list recall score (p = 0.013) and female gender (p = 0.004). Repetitive statements/stories were predicted by dysexecutiveness (p = 0.003) and younger age (p = 0.016). Repetitive actions were predicted by longer illness duration (p = 0.041), depressive symptoms (p = 0.035) and dysexecutiveness (p < 0.001). Themes and patterns were evident in repetitive behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: Repetitive behaviours were common in a sample of patients with AD referred to hospital clinics. Vocal and motor repetitive behaviours were predicted by different cognitive, demographic and mood variables.

Affect↗

Perceiving human locomotion: priming effects in direction discrimination.

During the perception of biological motion, the available stimulus information is confined to a small number of lights attached to the major joints of a moving actor. Despite this drastic impoverishment of the stimulus, the human visual apparatus organizes the swarm of moving dots in a vivid percept of a human figure. In addition, observers effortlessly identify the action the figure is involved in. After a historical introduction and a short walk through the literature, data from a priming experiment are presented. In a serial two-choice reaction-time task, participants were presented with a point-light walker, facing either to the right or to the left and walking either forward or backward on a treadmill. Subjects had to identify the direction of articulatory movements. Reliable priming effects were established in consecutive trials, but these effects were tempered by the relation between priming and primed walker. The reaction time to a walker was shorter when the walker in the preceding trial moved in the same direction and was facing in the same direction. The findings are discussed in relation to recent data from neuropsychological case studies, neuroimaging, and single-cell recording.

Humans↗

Development and functional significance of private speech among attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered and normal boys.

We compared the development of spontaneous private speech and its relationship to self-controlled behavior in a sample of 6- to 12-year-olds with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and matched normal controls. Thirty-eight boys were observed in their classrooms while engaged in math seatwork. Results revealed that ADHD children were delayed in private speech development in that they engaged in more externalized, self-fuiding and less inaudible, internalized speech than normal youngsters. Several findings suggest that the developmental lag was a consequence of a highly unmanageable attentional system that prevents ADHD children's private speech from gaining efficient mastery over behavior. First, self-guiding speech was associated with greater attentional focus only among the least distractible ADHD boys. Second, the most mature, internalized speech forms were correlated with self-stimulating behavior for ADHD subjects but not for controls. Third, observations of ADHD children both on and off stimulant medication indicated that reducing their symptoms substantially increased the maturity of private speech and its association with motor quiescence and attention to task. Results suggest that the Vygotskian hypothesis of a unidirectional path of influence from private speech to self-controlled behavior should be expanded into a bidirectional model. These findings may also shed light on why treatment programs that train children with attentional deficits in speech-to-self have shown limited efficacy.

Attention↗

Gender differences in the organization of sexual information.

One widely used model of knowledge representation is that of a network in which concepts are portrayed as nodes with links between the nodes representing associations. Schvaneveldt (1990) developed a method (Pathfinder) that generates associative networks from individual's ratings of similarity of word pairs. We had 51 female and 47 male undergraduates rate for similarity all paired combinations of 16 words judged as relevant to the domain of sexuality. Using a measure of network similarity, we found that each gender's networks were more similar to each other than they were to the other gender's. Using the number of links on words as the dependent variable there were gender differences in the number of links within clusters of words, between clusters of words, and on specific words. These differences, for the most part, are consistent with gender stereotypes and prior research showing gender differences in the processing of sexual information.

Algorithms↗

Use of songs to promote independence in morning greeting routines for young children with autism.

This study evaluated the effects of individually composed songs on the independent behaviors of two young children with autism during the morning greeting/entry routine into their inclusive classrooms. A music therapist composed a song for each child related to the steps of the morning greeting routine and taught the children's teachers to sing the songs during the routine. The effects were evaluated using a single subject withdrawal design. The results indicate that the songs, with modifications for one child, assisted the children in entering the classroom, greeting the teacher and/or peers and engaging in play. For one child, the number of peers who greeted him was also measured, and increased when the song was used.

Autistic Disorder↗

Reduction of self-injurious behavior in an autistic girl using a multifaceted treatment program.

Self-injurious hand biting was reduced in an autistic girl by using fine water mist combined with a loud statement of "No!" following the behavior, and verbal praise for appropriate behavior. The subject was 6 years old when the interventions were implemented, and she had been in arm and head restraints since infancy. A fading procedure that moved from a large to smaller bottles allowed generalization across settings and people. Treatment was effective at a 6-month follow-up in both structured and unstructured settings.

Autistic Disorder↗

Conversation skills training of thought-disordered schizophrenic patients through attention focusing.

An attention-focusing procedure was designed as discrete trials and multiple prompts with contingent social reinforcement to facilitate the acquisition of conversational skills in thought-disordered schizophrenia patients. Three patients with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia completed a standard social skills training program and the attention-focusing procedure in multiple baseline experimental designs. While social skills training had little effect on the acquisition of skills, patients who completed the attention-focusing procedure significantly increased performance of conversational skills and showed some generalization of trained behaviors.

Adult↗

Prediction of social skill acquisition in schizophrenic and major affective disorder patients from memory and symptomatology.

Memory and symptomatology were examined as predictors of social skill acquisition in psychiatric inpatients participating in a social skills training program. Poor memory was related to pretreatment social skill impairments and slower rates of skill improvement during the intervention for patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, but not affective disorder. Symptomatology was not consistently related to pretreatment social skill or changes in skill for either schizophrenic or affective disorder patients. The results suggest that cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are associated with impairments in social skill and that such deficits may limit the rate of skill acquisition and clinical response to social skills training interventions.

Adult↗

Social cognition after head injury: sarcasm and theory of mind.

Closed head injury (CHI) is associated with communication difficulties in everyday social interactions. Previous work has reported impaired comprehension of sarcasm, using sarcastic remarks where the intended meaning is the opposite of the sincere or literal meaning. Participants with CHI in the present study were assessed using two types of sarcastic items, those with a directly opposite meaning and those with an indirect, non-literal but not directly opposite meaning. The CHI group was differentially poorer at comprehending sarcastic versus sincere remarks, although type of sarcastic materials did not influence performance. Errors involved not only literal interpretations, but also incorrect non-literal interpretations. Theory of mind (mentalising) was also assessed by comparing comprehension of human actions with control physical events. The CHI group was selectively impaired on the mentalising component of this task, and mentalising scores correlated with sarcasm comprehension. The implications of the findings for our understanding of impaired sarcastic comprehension after acquired brain injury are discussed.

Adolescent↗