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ERIC Number: EJ754900
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 25
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0033-2933
EISSN: N/A
Assessing Relational Learning Deficits in Perspective-Taking in Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder
Rehfeldt, Ruth Anne; Dillen, Jeffrey E.; Ziomek, Megan M.; Kowalchuk, Rhonda K.
Psychological Record, v57 n1 p23 Win 2007
Perspective-taking, or the ability to demonstrate awareness of informational states in oneself and in others, has been of recent interest in behavioral psychology. This is, in part, a result of a modern behavioral approach to human language and cognition known as Relational Frame Theory, which views perspective-taking as generalized operant behavior based upon a history of reinforcement for relational responding. Previous lines of research have developed a behavioral protocol for assessing relational learning deficits in perspective-taking and have implicated the lack of perspective-taking as a basis for the social deficits observed in children with autism. However, no empirical investigations have been conducted on relational learning deficits in perspective-taking with autistic populations. The present paper reports 2 experiments that investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder demonstrated relational learning deficits in a perspective-taking task as compared to their age-matched typically developing peers. We also investigated whether accuracy in perspective-taking correlated with scores on standardized instruments commonly used in the assessment of autism spectrum disorder, and whether relational responding in perspective-taking improves following a history of reinforcement for such responding. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated statistically significant differences in errors as a function of type of relation, while visual inspection revealed that participants with autism spectrum disorder made more errors than typically developing children on 2 of the 3 types of relations examined. Results of Experiment 2 illustrated that a history of reinforced relational responding improved performance on the perspective-taking task. (Contains 2 tables and 10 figures.)
Psychological Record. 214 North Acland Street, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH 43022. Tel: 740-427-5377; Fax: 740-427-5390; Web site: http://www.thepsychologicalrecord.org/subscriptions.htm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A