Do ostensive cues affect object processing in children with and without autism? A test of natural pedagogy theory
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Do ostensive cues affect object processing in children with and without autism? A test of natural pedagogy theory Tobias Schuwerk1 · Johannes Bätz2 · Birgit Träuble2 · Beate Sodian1 · Markus Paulus1 Received: 17 October 2018 / Accepted: 2 July 2019 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract Theories suggest that the perception of others’ actions and social cues leads to selective processing of object features. Most recently, natural pedagogy theory postulated that ostensive cues lead to a selective processing of an object’s features at the expense of processing of its location. This study examined this hypothesis in 10-year-old children with and without autism spectrum condition (ASC) to better understand social information processing in ASC and the relevance of observing others in human object processing in general. Participants saw an agent either ostensively pointing to an object or non-ostensively grasping an object. Thereafter, the cued or uncued object changed either its location or identity. We assessed not only behavioral responses, but also participants’ gaze behavior by means of eye tracking. In contrast to natural pedagogy theory, we found that in the non-ostensive grasping context, participants rather noticed an identity change than a location change. Moreover, location changes were more readily identified in the ostensive pointing context. Importantly, there was no difference between children with and without ASC. Our study shows that the perception of ostensively vs. non-ostensively framed actions leads to different processing of object features, indicating a close link between action perception, object processing, and social cues. Moreover, the lacking group difference in our study suggests that these basic perception–action processes are not impaired in autism.
Action perception and object processing Humans are a remarkable social species. It has been argued that the evolutionary success of our species depends crucially on the social transmission of knowledge and our ability to interact and cooperate with each other (Boyd & Richerson, 1988). Interestingly, the impact of others on our behavior is not restricted to verbal exchange and discursive practices, but the mere observation of others’ behavior deeply affects our own actions and perception of the physical world (for reviews, see Becchio, Bertone, & Castiello, 2008; Kunde, Weller, & Pfister, 2018; Thill, Caligiore, Borghi, Ziemke, & Baldassarre, 2013). Notably, perceiving others’ object-directed behavior affects object processing (Böckler, van der Wel, & Welsh, 2014, 2015). For example, Fagioli, Ferlazzo, and Hommel (2007) showed that watching * Tobias Schuwerk [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802 Munich, Germany
Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2
a grasping action leads to a faster detection of object size changes than object location changes. Thus, it has been shown that others’ actio
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