Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2018-2
Drawing links between the autism cognitive profile and imagination: Executive function and processing bias in imaginative drawings by children with and without autism
Little is known about the relation between cognitive processes and imagination and whether this relation differs between neurotypically developing children and children with autism. To address this issue, we administered a cognitive task battery and Karmiloff-Smith’s drawing task, which requires children to draw imaginative people and houses. For children with autism, executive function significantly predicted imaginative drawing. In neurotypically developing controls, executive function and cognitive-perceptual processing style predicted imaginative drawing, but these associations were moderated by mental age. In younger (neurotypically developing) children, better executive function and a local processing bias were associated with imagination; in older children, only a global bias was associated with imagination. These findings suggest that (a) with development there are changes in the type of cognitive processes involved in imagination and (b) children with autism employ a unique cognitive strategy in imaginative drawing.
AllenMLChambersA (2011) Implicit and explicit understanding of ambiguous figures by adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Autism15(4): 457–472.
2.
American Psychological Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-DSM-5. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
3.
BaldoJVShimamuraAPDelisDC. (2001) Verbal and design fluency in patients with frontal lobe lesions. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society7(5): 586–596.
4.
BarnardLMuldoonKHasanR. (2008) Profiling executive dysfunction in adults with autism and comorbid learning disability. Autism12(2): 125–141.
5.
BishopDVMAamodt-LeeperGCreswellC. (2001) Individual differences in cognitive planning on the tower of hanoi task: neuropsychological maturity or measurement error?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry42(4): 551–556.
6.
BoothRCharltonRHughesC. (2003) Disentangling weak coherence and executive dysfunction: planning drawing in autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences358(1430): 387–392.
7.
BurtonJM (2010) Lassoing the world: drawing along the spectrum. In: Levett GerberBKellmanJ (eds) Understanding Students with Autism through Art. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association, pp.102–111.
8.
CarlsonSMWhiteRETaylorM (2013) Executive function, pretend play, and imagination. In: CarlsonSMWhiteRE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.161–174.
9.
CharmanTBaron-CohenS (1997) Brief report: prompted pretend play in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders27(3): 325–332.
10.
CharmanTSwettenhamJ (2001) Repetitive behaviors and social-communicative impairments in autism: implications for developmental theory and diagnosis. In: BurackJACharmanTYirmiyaN. (eds) The Development of Autism: Perspectives from Theory and Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp.325–345.
11.
CohenJCohenPWestSG. (2003) Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
12.
CraigJBaron-CohenS (1999) Creativity and imagination in autism and asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders29(4): 319–326.
13.
CraigJBaron-CohenSScottF (2001) Drawing ability in autism: a window into the imagination. The Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences38(3–4): 242–253.
14.
FrithC (2003) What do imaging studies tell us about the neural basis of autism?Novartis Foundation Symposium251: 149–166; discussion 166–176, 281–297.
15.
FrithU (1989) Autism: Explaining the Enigma. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
HappéF (1999) Autism: cognitive deficit or cognitive style?Trends in Cognitive Sciences3(6): 216–222.
18.
HappéFG (1993) Communicative competence and theory of mind in autism: a test of relevance theory. Cognition48(2): 101–119.
19.
HappéFGE (1996) Studying weak central coherence at low levels: children with autism do not succumb to visual illusions: a research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry37(7): 873–877.
20.
HillEL (2004) Executive dysfunction in autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences8(1): 26–32.
21.
HollisSLowJ (2005) Karmiloff-Smith’s RRM distinction between adjunctions and redescriptions: it’s about time (and children’s drawings). The British Journal of Developmental Psychology23(4): 623–644.
22.
HolmbeckGN (2002) Post-hoc probing of significant moderational and mediational effects in studies of pediatric populations. Journal of Pediatric Psychology27(1): 87–96.
23.
JarroldCBoucherJSmithP (1993) Symbolic play in autism: a review. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders23(2): 281–307.
24.
JarroldCBoucherJSmithPK (1996) Generativity deficits in pretend play in autism. The British Journal of Developmental Psychology14(3): 275–300.
25.
Karmiloff-SmithA (1990) Constraints on representational change: evidence from children’s drawing. Cognition34(1): 57–83.
KundaMGoelAK (2008) How thinking in pictures can explain many characteristic behaviors of autism. In: Proceedings of 7th IEEE international conference on development and learning: ICDL 2008, Monterey, CA, 9–12August, pp.304–309.
28.
LeeversHJHarrisPL (1998) Drawing impossible entities: a measure of the imagination in children with autism, children with learning disabilities, and normal 4-year-olds. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines39(3): 399–410.
29.
LordCRutterMDiLavoreP. (2000) Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
30.
LowJHollisS (2003) The eyes have it: development of children’s generative thinking. International Journal of Behavioral Development27(2): 97–108.
31.
LowJGoddardEMelserJ (2009) Generativity and imagination in autism spectrum disorder: evidence from individual differences in children’s impossible entity drawings. British Journal of Developmental Psychology27(2): 425–444.
32.
MarkovitsH (2000) A mental model analysis of young children’s conditional reasoning with meaningful premises. Thinking & Reasoning6(4): 335–347.
33.
MarshRLLandauJDHicksJL (1996) How examples may (and may not) constrain creativity. Memory & Cognition24(5): 669–680.
34.
MorraS (1995) A neo-piagetian approach to children’s drawings. In: Lange-KuttnerCGlynT (eds) Drawing and Looking: Theoretical Approaches to Pictorial Representation in Children: The Developing Body and Mind. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
35.
MorraS (2005) Cognitive aspects of change in drawings: a neo-piagetian theoretical account. British Journal of Developmental Psychology23(3): 317–341.
36.
MottronLDawsonMSoulièresI. (2006) Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: an update, and eight principles of autistic perception. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders36(1): 27–43.
37.
MüllerUKernsK (2015) The development of executive function. In: LibenLSMüllerULernerRM (eds) Handbook of Child of Psychology and Developmental Science (7th ed.vol. 2): Cognitive Processes. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, pp.571–623.
38.
OzonoffSSouthMProvencalS (2007) Executive functions in autism. In: PerezJMGonzalezPMLlorente ComiM. (eds) New Developments in Autism: The Future is Today. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, pp.185–213.
39.
PetridesMMilnerB (1982) Deficits on subject-ordered tasks after frontal-and temporal-lobe lesions in man. Neuropsychologia20(3): 249–262.
40.
Plaisted GrantKDavisG (2009) Perception and apperception in autism: rejecting the inverse assumption. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Series B: Biological Sciences364(1522): 1393–1398.
41.
PlaistedKSaksidaLAlcántaraJ. (2003) Towards an understanding of the mechanisms of weak central coherence effects: experiments in visual configural learning and auditory perception. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Series B: Biological Sciences358(1430): 375–386.
42.
RajendranGMitchellP (2007) Cognitive theories of autism. Developmental Review27: 224–260.
43.
Ribot (1906 [1901]) Essay on the Creative Imagination. Chicago, IL: The Open Court Publishing Company.
44.
RobinsonSGoddardLDritschelB. (2009) Executive functions in children with autism spectrum disorders. Brain and Cognition71: 362–368.
45.
RossTPHanouskovaEGiarlaK. (2007) The reliability and validity of the self-ordered pointing task. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology22(4): 449–458.
46.
RutterMLe CouteurALordC (2003) Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
47.
ScottF (2013) The development of imagination in children with autism. In: TaylorM (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
ScottFJBaron-CohenS (1996) Imagining real and unreal things: evidence of a dissociation in autism. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience8(4): 371–382.
49.
ShahAFrithU (1983) An islet of ability in autistic children: a research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines24(4): 613–620.
50.
ShahAFrithU (1993) Why do autistic individuals show superior performance on the block design task?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines34(8): 1351–1364.
51.
SheppardERoparDMitchellP (2009) Perceiving the impossible: how individuals with autism copy paradoxical figures. Autism13(4): 435–452.
52.
SingerJLSingerDG (2013) Historical overview of research on imagination in children. In: TaylorM (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.11–27.
53.
Ten EyckeKDMüllerU (2015) Brief report: new evidence for a social-specific imagination deficit in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders45(1): 213–220.
54.
ThomasGVSilkAMJ (1990) An Introduction to the Psychology of Children’s Drawings. New York: New York University Press.
55.
ToplakMEWestRFStanovichKE (2013) Practitioner review: do performance-based measures and ratings of executive function assess the same construct?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines54(2): 131–143.
56.
TurnerM (1997) Toward an executive dysfunction account of repetitive behaviour in autism. In: RussellJ (ed.) Autism as an Executive Disorder. New York: Oxford University Press, pp.57–99.
57.
TurnerMA (1999) Generating novel ideas: fluency performance in high-functioning and learning disabled individuals with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines40(2): 189–201.
58.
VanegasSBDavidsonD (2015) Investigating distinct and related contributions of weak central coherence, executive dysfunction, and systemizing theories to the cognitive profiles of children with autism spectrum disorders and typically developing children. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders11: 77–92.
59.
VygotskyLS (2004) Imagination and creativity in childhood. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology42(1): 7–97.
60.
WechslerD (1992) WISC-III: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children: Third Edition: Manual. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
61.
WelshMC (1991) Rule-guided behavior and self-monitoring on the Tower of Hanoi disk-transfer task. Cognitive Development6(1): 59–76.
62.
WitkinHAOltmanPKRaskinE. (1971) Manual for the Embedded Figures Test, Children’s Embedded Figures Test, and Group Embedded Figures Test. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
