Personal space regulation in childhood autism spectrum disorders

Traduction partielle: G.M.

Accès à l'intégralité de l'article en anglais

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 23;8(9):e74959. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074959.

Régulation de l'espace personnel dans les troubles du spectre autistique chez les enfants

Gessaroli E, Santelli E, di Pellegrino G, Frassinetti F.

Source

Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy ; Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, Clinica del Lavoro e della Riabilitazione, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Mantova, Castel Goffredo, Italy.

Abstract

People appropriately adjust the distance between themselves and others during social interaction, and they may feel discomfort and move away when another person intrudes on their personal space. In the present study, we investigated personal space in children with persistent difficulties in the domain of social behavior, such as children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and in children with typical development (TD). The stop-distance paradigm was used to derive estimates of interpersonal distance, before and after a brief interaction with an unfamiliar adult confederate. The results showed that ASD children felt comfortable at a greater distance compared to TD children. Moreover, personal space shrunk after interaction with the confederate in TD children, but it failed to do so in ASD children. 

Ces résultats montrent que l'autisme affecte profondément la régulation de l'espace personnel , influençant à la fois sa taille et sa souplesse

PMID: 24086410