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Volume 2 Number 1
Fall 2007
| Autism as a
Downstream Effect of Primary Difficulties in Intersubjectivity
Interacting with Abnormal Development of Brain Connectivity Filippo Muratori Sandra Maestro Scientific Institute Stella Maris, University of Pisa, Italy |
pp. 93-118 |
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| ABSTRACT.
Autism is a ‘spectrum’ of conditions all of which disturb the
development of interpersonal sympathy. We suggest that differences in
behavior, emotion or brain functions are downstream effects of
impairments in primary or secondary intersubjectivity. Several research
projects have shown that the lack of intersubjective behaviors is the
best way to discriminate children with autism from those with typical
development during the first year of life. According to new findings on
biological maturation of the brain after birth, it is supposed that
these difficulties do not allow the neurological experience-dependent
system to develop in autism. In this paper we consider early dyadic
interactions observed in the home movies of children later diagnosed
with autism, of sequential maternal approach and infant’s responses to
these approaches. We hypothesize that children with autism show fewer
contingent responses to their mothers than non-autistic children, and
that episodes of contingency are a function of the type of approach
used by the caregiver. It is supposed that more contingent behaviors
happen when the caregiver approach is high in intensity and rich in
non-verbal behaviors, as motherese. Motherese is supposed to play an
important role in creating interactive sequences which are the
expression of new cortical and sub-cortical networks in brain
development. When these linkages are not properly formed early in life,
a variety of downstream effects may occur. |
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| Keywords: autism, intersubjectivity, motherese, contingency, mirror neurons | ||