Goal-Directed and Goal-Less Imitation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

To investigate how people with Autism are affected by the presence of goals during imitation, we conducted a study to measure
movement kinematics and eye movements during the imitation of goal-directed and goal-less hand movements. Our results showed
that a control group imitated changes in movement kinematics and increased the level that they tracked the hand with their
eyes, in the goal-less compared to goal-direction condition. In contrast, the ASD group exhibited more goal-directed eye movements,
and failed to modulate the observed movement kinematics successfully in either condition. These results increase the evidence
for impaired goal-less imitation in ASD, and suggest that there is a reliance on goal-directed strategies for imitation in
ASD, even in the absence of visual goals.