Lecture 4 Flashcards
what is the DSM-V criteria for diagnosing autism
1] deficits in social communication across multiple contexts
2] restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour
3] symptoms must be present in early developmental period
4] symptoms cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other areas
5] these disturbances are not explained by intellectual disability or developmental delay
what is the first cognitive theory of autism
theory of mind - failure to acknowledge others have their own thoughts and beliefs
what was the study of klin focused on
autistic children inferring the mental states of geometric figures
what is the issue with kiln’s study and who opposed it
de Gelder - why test understanding with a game that involves make-believe when autistic children are known to have difficulties with this
what did the study by sparrevohn & howie find
autistic children with higher verbal mental age more likely to pass ToM tasks
what did the study by Happe find
there’s a relationship between child’s verbal mental age and passing FB tasks
mental age of 12 able to pass compared to 4y in typical children
what is a 2nd order false belief task
“i think that she thinks that…” where does x think y think z is?
what did baron-cohen find with 2nd order FB tasks
autistic people pass 1st order, fail 2nd order
ToM is a delay not a deficit
what did bowler find regarding 2nd order false belief tasks
people with aspergers pass 2nd order tasks
therefore defecit of ToM not universal
impaired ToM is not autism
what did minter, hobson & bishop find
children with visual impairment showed difficulty with FB
what did woolfe, want & siegal find
children with hearing impairment have developmental delay acknowledging FB
what does a communication disadvantage during early years lead to
delay in understanding minds
language & communication important for understanding other minds
what is the second cognitive theory of autism
executive dysfunction - deficits in inhibition, planning & executive memory
what did ozonoff et al find regarding the tower of hanoi game with autistic children
they acted impulsively, could not plan several moves ahead
what did ozonoff et al find regarding the wisconsin card sort game with autistic children
unable to shift attentional focus, preservered to sort them by established system
what did ozonoff et al find regarding the theory of mind tests with autistic children
many passed 1st order
some passed 2nd order
what does russell et al state regarding executive control explaining social problems
maybe FB task failure due to insufficient flexibility in imagination to give correct judgement
children >4 unable to inhibit pre-potent response
maybe FB task failure about failure to inhibit, meaning it’s an executive dysfunction not lack of ToM
what does executive dysfunction not explain
non-social features of autism
savant abilities
heightened perceptual abilities
what is the third cognitive theory of autism
weak central coherence (frith)
preference for local details rather than global whole or context
what did snowling & frith find regarding language processing
those with autism fail to use context when processing ambiguous homographs
difficulties with sarcasm & irony
what did pring et al find regarding islets of ability
individuals with autism were as fast at solving a jigsaw upside down
is weak central coherence a primary cause of ASD
no, not universal and other children with different impairments show problems with processing context (norbury et al)
what did happe & ronald say about single explanations of ASD
they cannot be explained by a single cognitive deficit
what is the medical model of autism
autistic on autistic interactions mean difficulties compounded
what is milton’s double empathy problem
autistic on autistic interactions are more efficient than autistic on non-autistic interactions
what did crompton et al’s diffusion chains find
autistic peer-to-peer information transfer was more efficient than a mixed chain
what are three problems with crompton’s diffusion chains
not representative
ppts aware of diagnostic status
chains not gender biased
what is the perception of autistic people according to sasson et al
non-autistic people rated autistic people less socially
what are 3 problems with sasson et al’s study into the perception of autistic people
static images and brief videos don’t reflect real life
only explored explicit judgements
largely male sample, autistic adults without intellectual disability - not representative
what did sheppard et al find regarding the perception of autistic people
non-autistic people find autistic people harder to read
what did alkhaldi et al find regarding the perception of autistic people
non-autistic people might rate autistic people negatively because they are harder to read
what did sasson & morrison find regarding the perception of autistic people
disclosing autism diagnosis and increased autism knowledge increased favourability ratings of autistic people
what did bolis et al find regarding autistic friendships
friends with similar levels of autistic traits report higher friendship quality
how does the DEP disagree with DSM-V
DSM-V reports defecits in forming stable long-term relationships
DEP states this will only occur when each person has different views and experiences
what did klin find regarding social information for autistic people
it may be less salient to autistic children which has a knock-on effect on development
how does the transponders help development
autistic children exposed to the resource for 4 weeks significantly improved across all measures
control group did not
what did young & poselt find regarding the transporters
autistic children that watched the show improved in more emotion recognition than children who watched Thomas the tank engine
what did dydra et al find regarding a meta-analysis of the transponders’ usefulness
limited evidence in support of interventions targeting emotion recognition
what is the intervention of applied behaviour analysis developed by lovaas
uses positive reinforcement to teach new skills and repress “challenging behaviours”
what did rodgers et al find in his meta-analysis regarding ABA
all studies were biased / poor quality
long term impact of early intervention beyond 2 years unknown
some evidence for positibe effects on cognitive ability
what did mcdill & robinson find from testimony of autistic adults who experienced ABA as a child
potential harms not captured in research
what did kapp et al find regarding stimming
suppressing stimming removes a self-regulatory mechanism
