Social affiliation motives modulate spontaneous learning in Williams syndrome but not in autism

Abstract

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those with Williams syndrome (WS) have difficulties with learning, though the nature of these remains unclear.

Methods: In this study, we used novel eye-tracking and behavioral paradigms to measure how 36 preschoolers with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched peers with WS attend to and learn novel behaviors (1) from the outcomes of their own actions (non-social learning), (2) through imitation of others' actions (social learning), and across situations in which imitative learning served either an instrumental function or fulfilled social affiliation motives.

Results: The two groups demonstrated similar abilities to learn from the consequences of their own actions and to imitate new actions that were instrumental to the achievement of a tangible goal. Children with WS, unlike those with ASD, increased their attention and imitative learning performance when the model acted in a socially engaging manner.

Conclusions: Learning abnormalities in ASD appear to be linked to the social rather than instrumental dimensions of learning.

Keywords: Autism; Imitation; Learning; Social cognition; Social learning; Williams syndrome.

Fig. 1

Imitation performance (proportion of imitated actions) in experiment 1 *p = .001

Fig. 2

Playful model (left) and the neutral model (right) in experiment 2 video stimuli

Fig. 3

Average duration of fixations to the model’s face (experiment 2) *p = .005

Fig. 4

Example of video stimulus in experiment 3

Fig. 5

Number of errors in the first, second, and third object presentation in experiment 4