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Berthouze, L., Kaplan, F., Kozima, H., Yano, H., Konczak, J., Metta, G., Nadel, J.

, Sandini, G., Stojanov, G. and Balkenius, C. (Eds.)


Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems
Lund University Cognitive Studies, 123. ISBN 91-974741-4-2

The role for context in motor development in autism


Petra Björne Christian Balkenius
Lund University Cognitive Science
Kungshuset, Lundagård
222 22 LUND, Sweden

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder with sequences are initially learned. An alternative view
qualitative impairments in reciprocal social interac- is that actions are selected as the result of a two sage
tion and communication as well as a restricted range selection process. In the first stage the target stimu-
of interests and repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. lus for the action is selected, and in the second stage,
Though specific motor impairments are not part of the actions possible for the selected target are chosen
the diagnostic criteria, the displays of stereotyped depending on the current task context. According to
motor behaviors are, such as hand or finger flapping this view, the initial sequentiation of actions is the
and complex whole-body movements. Further, per- result of a context based mechanisms that inhibits
sons with autism show a different pattern of body inappropriate or impossible actions until they can
postures and use of gestures for communication and be successfully executed (Björne & Balkenius, 2005).
in social interaction. Motor disturbances among per- Learning the sequence of actions that is necessary
sons with autism are an important clinical feature, for an infant to efficiently turn around could thus
though these, in light of the cognitive impairments, be the result of a mechanism that detects when an
seldom are seen as primary. action is not successful and gradually sorts out the
Disorders of coordination are seen in children with order (Balkenius & Winberg, 2004). The context
autism and Asperger syndrome (AS) as well as in in each step is here the position of the body and
those with pervasive developmental disorders not possibly also the memory of the previous actions.
otherwise specified, with the children with AS hav- If the autistic infant lacks the ability to maintain
ing the least difficulties. Much work on motor im- a context, they will not be able to inhibit actions
pairment in the autism spectrum has focused on the that should not yet be executed, which will lead to
clumsiness seen in persons with Asperger syndrome, an inability to learn sequential behaviors in the nor-
in an attempt to differentiate between autism and mal way. Instead, they would be expected to use
AS. Persons with autism, however, have also been monolithic actions that are able to obtain the de-
shown to have neuromotor deficits. sired end state, even if they are less efficient. This
is exactly what is observed in the case of the rota-
It is important to understand motor impairments
tion of the autistic infant. Furthermore, an inabil-
in autism, though not considered to be among the
ity to take contextual factors into account. when
core deficits, as these are among the early signs in
for example walking, would leave the modulation of
infants later diagnosed with autism.
movements to slower feedback systems which will re-
A characteristic motor impairment in autism and sult in clumsy movements. Although speculative, we
AS is the deficient sequencing of movement as the believe that this view of sequence learning can con-
infant rotates from lying on its back to its stom- tribute to the understanding of some aspects of the
ach (Teitelbaum et al, 2004). Normally the infant autistic individual.
develops a movement pattern from head to feet, in
a corkscrew fashion. In infants later diagnosed with References
AS, the asymmetrical tonic neck reflex was displayed
long past the time when it should have been inhib- Balkenius, C., and Björne, P. (2004). First steps towards
a computational theory of autism. Berthouze, L. et
ited. This means that the child rolls, or rather falls
al. (Ed.), Proceedings of EpiRob ’04.
over with the whole body, not sequentially. Balkenius, C., and Winberg, S. (2004). Cognitive mod-
We have earlier argued that the ability to correctly eling with context sensitive reinforcement learning.
identify and maintain an appropriate context may be Proceedings of AILS ’04.
the cause of some of the attentional deficits in autism Björne, P., and Balkenius, C. (2005). The role of con-
(Balkenius & Björne, 2005). Here, we want to sug- text and extinction in ADHD. Behavioral and Brain
gest a possible role of context in the development Sciences, in press.
of sequential motor actions. Although well trained Teitelbaum, O., Benton, T., Shah, P.K., Prince, A.,
Kelly, J.L. & Teitelbaum, P. (2004). PNAS, 101, 32,
motor sequences can be seen as actions that are ac-
11909-11914.
tivated in rigid sequence, this may not be how such

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