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DeVeney SL, Dotan S, Weberman I, Julius MS, Adi-Japha E. Dynamics of Motor Skill Learning in American and Israeli Toddlers With Varied Language Proficiency. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2024:1-16. [PMID: 39392908 DOI: 10.1044/2024_ajslp-24-00142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/13/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of the present study was twofold: to determine if deficits in motor skill proficiency and learning were present in 2-year-old children identified with early expressive language delay compared to peers without the delay, and to distinguish how motor skill proficiency and learning behaviors may manifest differently across culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. METHOD The study involved 54 children (24-36 months of age), 23 of whom were identified as having an expressive language delay. Furthermore, 16 participants were American and English-speaking and 38 were Israeli and Hebrew-speaking. After motor and language skill proficiency was assessed using a variety of measures, each child and participating parent were introduced to a nonsymmetrical-shaped insertion task so that motor learning skills could be observed. This block insertion task was observed for each child at three time points and included a transfer task (same task, new nonsymmetrical shape). RESULTS Children with early expressive language delay were statistically significantly more likely to exhibit deficits in fine-motor proficiency than peers without language delay, regardless of country of origin or language spoken. Furthermore, participants with language delay demonstrated significantly higher error rates in transfer task completion compared with peers. Finally, participants in the U.S. sample indicated lower fine-motor skills and higher error rates than those in the Israeli sample. CONCLUSION Differences in motor skill proficiency were universally associated with language delay status, indicating support for the notion that language acquisition deficits may extend beyond the linguistic system even in young children identified as late talkers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shirly Dotan
- Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Inbal Weberman
- Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Mona S Julius
- Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- The Academic College Levinsky-Wingate, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- The Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Esther Adi-Japha
- Faculty of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- The Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Focaroli V, Taffoni F, Velardi A, Caravale B, Keller F. Object Exploration and Manipulation in Infants at Typical vs. Elevated Likelihood for ASD: A Review. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 11:825. [PMID: 39062274 PMCID: PMC11276247 DOI: 10.3390/children11070825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2024] [Revised: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024]
Abstract
The present review considers the growing body of literature on fine motor skills in infants at elevated genetic likelihood (EL) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This area of study aims to identify crucial motor markers associated with the disorder, facilitating earlier and more accurate identification of ASD, using various experimental methodologies, including standardized assessments, observational measures, and technological tools. The reviewed evidence revealed distinct developmental trajectories in EL infants, marked by differences in fine motor skills and exploratory behaviors compared to typically developing infants. We discuss the developmental trajectory of fine motor skills in infants and their predictive value for later ASD diagnosis, highlighting the significance of fine motor skills as early indicators of ASD risk in infants and emphasizing the need for further research to elucidate their predictive value and underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Focaroli
- Department of Economic, Psychological and Communication Sciences, Niccolò Cusano University, 00166 Rome, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Taffoni
- CREO LAB, Advanced Robotics and Human Centred-Technologies Laboratory, Campus Bio-Medico University, 00128 Rome, Italy;
| | - Andrea Velardi
- Department of Humanities, Motor Sciences and Education, Niccolò Cusano University, 00166 Rome, Italy;
| | - Barbara Caravale
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy;
| | - Flavio Keller
- Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience, Campus Bio-Medico University, 00128 Rome, Italy;
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Granato G, Cartoni E, Da Rold F, Mattera A, Baldassarre G. Integrating unsupervised and reinforcement learning in human categorical perception: A computational model. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0267838. [PMID: 35536843 PMCID: PMC9089926 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Categorical perception identifies a tuning of human perceptual systems that can occur during the execution of a categorisation task. Despite the fact that experimental studies and computational models suggest that this tuning is influenced by task-independent effects (e.g., based on Hebbian and unsupervised learning, UL) and task-dependent effects (e.g., based on reward signals and reinforcement learning, RL), no model studies the UL/RL interaction during the emergence of categorical perception. Here we have investigated the effects of this interaction, proposing a system-level neuro-inspired computational architecture in which a perceptual component integrates UL and RL processes. The model has been tested with a categorisation task and the results show that a balanced mix of unsupervised and reinforcement learning leads to the emergence of a suitable categorical perception and the best performance in the task. Indeed, an excessive unsupervised learning contribution tends to not identify task-relevant features while an excessive reinforcement learning contribution tends to initially learn slowly and then to reach sub-optimal performance. These results are consistent with the experimental evidence regarding categorical activations of extrastriate cortices in healthy conditions. Finally, the results produced by the two extreme cases of our model can explain the existence of several factors that may lead to sensory alterations in autistic people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Granato
- Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
- School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Emilio Cartoni
- Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Federico Da Rold
- Body Action Language Lab, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Mattera
- Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Gianluca Baldassarre
- Laboratory of Computational Embodied Neuroscience, Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
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Posar A, Visconti P. Early Motor Signs in Autism Spectrum Disorder. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 9:children9020294. [PMID: 35205014 PMCID: PMC8870370 DOI: 10.3390/children9020294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Revised: 02/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
A growing number of literature data suggest the presence of early impairments in the motor development of children with autism spectrum disorder, which could be often recognized even before the appearance of the classical social communication deficits of autism. In this narrative review, we aimed at performing an update about the available data on the early motor function in children with autism spectrum disorder. Early motor impairment in these children can manifest itself both as a mere delay of motor development and as the presence of atypicalities of motor function, such as a higher rate and a larger inventory, of stereotyped movements both with and without objects. In the perspective of a timely diagnosis, the presence of early motor signs can be an important clue, especially in an individual considered at high risk for autism. Motor and communication (both verbal and non-verbal) skills are connected and a pathogenetic role of early motor dysfunctions in the development of autism can be hypothesized. From this, derives the importance of an early enabling intervention aimed at improving motor skills, which could also have favorable effects on other aspects of development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annio Posar
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico, 40139 Bologna, Italy;
- Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Neuromotorie, Università di Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +39-051-6225111
| | - Paola Visconti
- IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, UOSI Disturbi dello Spettro Autistico, 40139 Bologna, Italy;
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Bambha VP, Beckner AG, Shetty N, Voss AT, Xie J, Yiu E, LoBue V, Oakes LM, Casasola M. Developmental Changes in Children’s Object Insertions during Play. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2022.2025807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Aaron G. Beckner
- University of California, CA, USA
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, CA, USA
| | | | - Annika T. Voss
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, CA, USA
| | - Jinlin Xie
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Lisa M. Oakes
- University of California, CA, USA
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, CA, USA
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DeMasi A, Berger SE. Making the process of strategy choice visible: Inhibition and motor demands impact preschoolers' real-time problem solving. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13106. [PMID: 33817976 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Revised: 02/16/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
To examine the real-time process of strategy choice and execution and the role of inhibition in problem solving, 4- to 6-year-old children were asked to navigate a ball around a maze board under high- and low-precision motor demands. Employing a motor problem-solving task made normally hidden cognitive processes observable. Sequential analysis revealed two subtypes of inhibition (response and attentional) that are involved in problem solving and different developmental trajectories for each. Cognition-action trade-offs due to motor and inhibition demands adversely impacted children's strategy choices, but contributed to heightened variability of strategies. Children used fewer strategies with age, reflecting more efficient problem solving due to increasing inhibitory control. When solutions required precision, preschoolers were more likely to have difficulty inhibiting irrelevant and distracting strategies and maintaining appropriate strategies. By preschool age, executive functioning serves to make strategic motor control possible. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCLxK7dvheE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron DeMasi
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, New York, USA
| | - Sarah E Berger
- Department of Psychology, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, New York, USA.,The College of Staten Island, City University of New York, New York, USA
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Neurotypical individuals fail to understand action vitality form in children with autism spectrum disorder. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:27712-27718. [PMID: 33087573 PMCID: PMC7959533 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2011311117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Action vitality forms are highly pervasive aspects of daily life and have been widely assumed to be critical for basic social interactions. Previous evidence indicates that ASD children express their own vitality forms in a way that is motorically dissimilar to TD children. Here we demonstrate that this motor dissimilarity prevents neurotypical adults from recognizing vitality forms, when observing ASD children acting gently or rudely. Although ASD children differentiate these vitality forms, neurotypical adults were remarkably inaccurate in identifying them. This indicates that difficulty in social interaction for ASD individuals should not be entirely ascribed to their lack of understanding others, as standardly assumed. The failure of neurotypical individuals to understand them plays a critical role too. Any defects of sociality in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are standardly explained in terms of those individuals’ putative impairments in a variety of cognitive functions. Recently, however, the need for a bidirectional approach to social interaction has been emphasized. Such an approach highlights differences in basic ways of acting between ASD and neurotypical individuals which would prevent them from understanding each other. Here we pursue this approach by focusing on basic action features reflecting the agent’s mood and affective states. These are action features Stern named “vitality forms,” and which are widely assumed to substantiate core social interactions [D. N. Stern, The Interpersonal World of the Infant (1985); D. N. Stern, Forms of Vitality Exploring Dynamic Experience in Psychology, Arts, Psychotherapy, and Development (2010)]. Previously we demonstrated that, although ASD and typically developing (TD) children alike differentiate vitality forms when performing actions, ASD children express them in a way that is motorically dissimilar to TD children. To assess whether this motor dissimilarity may have consequences for vitality form recognition, we asked neurotypical participants to identify the vitality form of different types of action performed by ASD or TD children. We found that participants exhibited remarkable inaccuracy in identifying ASD children’s vitality forms. Interestingly, their performance did not benefit from information feedback. This indicates that how people act matters for understanding others and for being understood by them. Because vitality forms pervade every aspect of daily life, our findings promise to open the way to a deeper comprehension of the bidirectional difficulties for both ASD and neurotypical individuals in interacting with one another.
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Casartelli L, Cesareo A, Biffi E, Campione GC, Villa L, Molteni M, Sinigaglia C. Vitality form expression in autism. Sci Rep 2020; 10:17182. [PMID: 33057003 PMCID: PMC7560849 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-73364-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The notion of "vitality form" has been coined by Daniel Stern to describe the basic features of action, which may reflect the mood or affective state of an agent. There is general consensus that vitality forms substantiate social interactions in children as well in adults. Previous studies have explored children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)'s ability in copying and recognizing the vitality forms of actions performed by others. In this paper we investigated, for the first time, how children with ASD express different vitality forms when acting themselves. We recorded the kinematics of ASD and typically developing (TD) children while performing three different types of action with two different vitality forms. There were two conditions. In the what condition we contrasted the three different types of action performed with a same vitality form, while in the how condition we contrasted the same type of action performed with two different vitality forms. The results showed a clear difference between ASD children and TD children in the how, but not in the what, condition. Indeed, while TD children distinguished the vitality forms to be expressed by mostly varying a specific spatiotemporal parameter (i.e. movement time), no significant variation in this parameter was found in ASD children. As they are not prone to express vitality forms as neurotypical individuals do, individuals with ASD's interactions with neurotypical peers could therefore be difficult to achieve successfully, with cascading effects on their propensity to be tuned to their surrounding social world, or so we conjecture. If this conjecture would turn out to be correct, our findings could have promising implication for theoretical and clinical research in the context of ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Casartelli
- Scientific Institute IRCCS E.MEDEA, Child Psychopathology Department, Theoretical and Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Bosisio Parini Lecco, Italy
| | - A Cesareo
- Scientific Institute IRCCS E.MEDEA, Bioengineering Lab, Bosisio Parini Lecco, Italy
| | - E Biffi
- Scientific Institute IRCCS E.MEDEA, Bioengineering Lab, Bosisio Parini Lecco, Italy
| | - G C Campione
- Scientific Institute IRCCS E.MEDEA, Child Psychopathology Department, Bosisio Parini Lecco, Italy
| | - L Villa
- Scientific Institute IRCCS E.MEDEA, Child Psychopathology Department, Bosisio Parini Lecco, Italy
| | - M Molteni
- Scientific Institute IRCCS E.MEDEA, Child Psychopathology Department, Bosisio Parini Lecco, Italy
| | - C Sinigaglia
- Università Degli Studi Di Milano, Department of Philosophy, Via Festa del Perdono 7, 20122, Milano, Italy.
- Cognition in Action (CIA) Unit, PHILAB, 20122, Milan, Italy.
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9
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van Schaik JE, Dominici N. Motion tracking in developmental research: Methods, considerations, and applications. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2020; 254:89-111. [PMID: 32859295 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2020.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
In this chapter, we explore the use of motion tracking methodology in developmental research. With motion tracking, also called motion capture, human movements can be precisely recorded and analyzed. Motion tracking provides developmental researchers with objective measurements of motor and (socio-)cognitive development. It can further be used to create carefully-controlled stimuli videos and can offer means of measuring development outside of the lab. We discuss three types of motion tracking that lend themselves to developmental applications. First, marker-based systems track optical or electromagnetic markers or sensors placed on the body and offer high accuracy measurements. Second, markerless methods entail image processing of videos to track the movement of bodies without participants being hindered by physical markers. Third, inertial motion tracking measures three-dimensional movements and can be used in a variety of settings. The chapter concludes by examining three example topics from developmental literature in which motion tracking applications have contributed to our understanding of human development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna E van Schaik
- Department of Educational and Family Studies, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Nadia Dominici
- Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Achermann S, Nyström P, Bölte S, Falck-Ytter T. Motor atypicalities in infancy are associated with general developmental level at 2 years, but not autistic symptoms. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2020; 24:1650-1663. [PMID: 32414290 PMCID: PMC7545653 DOI: 10.1177/1362361320918745] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Atypicalities in motor functioning are often observed in later born infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. The goal of our study was to investigate motor functioning in infants with and without familial history of autism spectrum disorder. Specifically, we investigated how infants catch a ball that is rolling toward them following a non-straight path, a task that requires both efficient planning and execution. Their performance was measured using detailed three-dimensional motion capture technology. We found that several early motor functioning measures were different in infants with an older autistic sibling compared to controls. However, these early motor measures were not related to autistic symptoms at the age of 2 years. Instead, we found that some of the early motor measures were related to their subsequent non-social, general development. The findings of our study help us understand motor functioning early in life and how motor functioning is related to other aspects of development.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sven Bölte
- Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.,Stockholm County Council, Sweden.,Curtin University, Australia
| | - Terje Falck-Ytter
- Uppsala University, Sweden.,Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.,Stockholm County Council, Sweden.,Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Sweden
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