Perspective transformations that are considered the first step of visual level 2 perspective-taking (VPT2) are not highly active in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We investigated training procedures to develop moving to another viewpoint and observing the view from the new viewpoint to establish VPT2. The Face Rotation Task was used as the VPT2 task in three experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 examined the time-lag from the removal of sample stimuli to the presentation of comparison stimuli. The results of the two experiments indicated that VPT2 was established when participants move from the self-viewpoint to the other’s viewpoint while continuing to look at the stimuli, and when participants move from the other’s viewpoint to the self-viewpoint while maintaining a representation from the other’s viewpoint. Eye movements during the presentation of sample stimuli were analyzed in Experiment 3. The results indicated the possibility of mutually looking at elements of a spatial array while performing the perspective transformation.
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Asaoka, H., Kumagai, M., Okamura, S., & Watanabe, M. (2016). Effects of Observing the View from Another Person’s Viewpoint on Training of Spontaneous Spatial Perspective-Taking in a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Japanese Journal of Autistic Spectrum, 14, 5-11.
Asaoka, H., Takahashi, T., Chen, J., Fujiwara, A., Watanabe, M., & Noro, F. (2019). Difficulties in Spontaneously Performing Level 2 Perspective-Taking Skills in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Advances in Autism, 5, 243-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-09-2018-0028
Avikainen, S., Wohlschläger, A., Liuhanen, S., Hänninen, R., & Hari, R. (2003). Impaired Mirror-Image Imitation in Asperger and High-Functioning Autistic Subjects. Current biology, 13, 339-341. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00087-3
Ayres, A. J. (1979). Sensory Integration and the Child. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Baron-Cohen, S. (1989). Perceptual Role Taking and Protodeclarative Pointing in Autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 7, 113-127. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1989.tb00793.x
Carey, S. (1996). Perceptual Classification and Expertise. In R. Gelman, & T. Au (Eds.), Perceptual and Cognitive Development (pp. 49-69). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012279660-9/50020-8
Conson, M., Hamilton, A., De Bellis, F., Errico, D., Improta, I., Mazza-Rella, E., et al. (2016). Body Constraints on Motor Simulation in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46, 1051-1060. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2652-x
Conson, M., Mazzarella, E., Frolli, A., Esposito, D., Marino, N., Trojano, L., et al. (2013). Motor Imagery in Asperger Syndrome: Testing Action Simulation by the Hand Laterality Task. PLoS ONE, 8, e70734. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070734
Elekes, F., Varga, M., & Király, I. (2017). Level-2 Perspectives Computed Quickly and Spontaneously: Evidence from Eight-to 9.5-Year-Old Children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 35, 609-622. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12201
Falla, D., & Alós, F. J. (2016). Contextual Control in Visuospatial Perspective-Taking Skills in Adults with Intellectual Disabilities. Behavioral Interventions, 31, 44-61. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.1435
Flavell, J. H., Everett, B. A., Croft, K., & Flavell, E. R. (1981). Young Children’s Knowledge about Visual Perception: Further Evidence for the Level 1-Level 2 Distinction. Developmental Psychology, 17, 99-103. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.17.1.99
Hadwin, J. A., Howlin, P., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015). Teaching Children with Autism to Mind-Read: The Workbook. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Hamilton, A. F., Brindley, R., & Frith, U. (2009). Visual Perspective Taking Impairment in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Cognition, 113, 37-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.07.007
Hobson, R. P. (1984). Early Childhood Autism and the Question of Egocentrism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 14, 85-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02408558
Hobson, R. P., & Hobson, J. A. (2008). Dissociable Aspects of Imitation: A Study in Autism. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 101, 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.04.007
Huttenlocher, J., & Presson, C. C. (1979). The Coding and Transformation of Spatial Information. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 375-394. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(79)90017-3
Ito, H., Tani, I., Yukihiro, R., Adachi, J., Hara, K., Ogasawara, M., et al. (2012). Validation of an Interview-Based Rating Scale Developed in Japan for Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6, 1265-1272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2012.04.002
Kessler, K., & Rutherford, H. (2010). The Two Forms of Visuo-Spatial Perspective Taking Are Differently Embodied and Subserve Different Spatial Prepositions. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 213. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00213
Kessler, K., & Thomson, L. A. (2010). The Embodied Nature of Spatial Perspective Taking: Embodied Transformation versus Sensorimotor Interference. Cognition, 114, 72-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.08.015
Ledford, J. R., & Gast, D. L. (2018). Single Case Research Methodology: Applications in Special Education and Behavioral Science (3rd ed.). London: Routhledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315150666
Leekam, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Perrett, D., Milders, M., & Brown, S. (1997). Eye-Direction Detection: A Dissociation between Geometric and Joint Attention Skills in Autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 15, 77-95. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1997.tb00726.x
Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1988). Autistic Children’s Understanding of Seeing, Knowing and Believing. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 6, 315-324. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1988.tb01104.x
Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised: A Revised Version of a Diagnostic Interview for Caregivers of Individuals with Possible Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 659-685. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02172145
Meyer, J. A., & Hobson, R. P. (2004). Orientation in Relation to Self and Other: The Case of Autism. Interaction Studies, 5, 221-244. https://doi.org/10.1075/is.5.2.04mey
Montefinese, M., Sulpizio, V., Galati, G., & Committeri, G. (2015). Age-Related Effects on Spatial Memory across Viewpoint Changes Relative to Different Reference Frames. Psychological Research, 79, 687-697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-014-0598-9
Morss, J. R. (1987). The Construction of Perspectives: Piaget’s Alternative to Spatial Egocentrism. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 10, 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1177/016502548701000301
Ohta, M. (1987). Cognitive Disorders of Infantile Autism: A Study Employing the WISC, Spatial Relationship Conceptualization, and Gesture Imitations. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 17, 45-62. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01487259
Okuyama, T., & Isawa, S. (2010). Right-Left Discrimination from One’s Own and Another Person’s Viewpoint in Children with Autism: Higher-Order Conditional Discrimination and Generalization of Viewpoint. Japanese Journal of Behavior Analysis, 24, 2-16.
Pearson, A., Marsh, L., Hamilton, A., & Ropar, D. (2014). Spatial Transformations of Bodies and Objects in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 2277-2289. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2098-6
Pearson, A., Ropar, D., & Hamilton, A. F. D. (2013). A Review of Visual Perspective Taking in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 652. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00652
Reed, T., & Peterson, C. (1990). A Comparative Study of Autistic Subjects’ Performance at Two Levels of Visual and Cognitive Perspective Taking. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 20, 555-567. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02216060
Shelton, A. L., Clements-Stephens, A. M., Lam, W. Y., Pak, D. M., & Murray, A. J. (2012). Should Social Savvy Equal Good Spatial Skills? The Interaction of Social Skills with Spatial Perspective Taking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141, 199-205. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024617
Slone, L. K., Smith, L. B., & Yu, C. (2019). Self-Generated Variability in Object Images Predicts Vocabulary Growth. Developmental Science, 22, e12816. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12816
Smith, I. M. (1998). Gesture Imitation in Autism I: Nonsymbolic Postures and Sequences. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 15, 747-770. https://doi.org/10.1080/026432998381087
Takano, Y. (1998). Why Does a Mirror Image Look Left-Right Reversed? A Hypothesis of Multiple Processes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 5, 37-55. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209456
Tanaka Institute for Educational Research (2003). Tanaka Binet Chinou Kensa V [Tanaka-Binet Intelligence Scale V]. Tokyo: Taken.
Ueno, K., Nadeo, T., & Iinaga, K. (2008). PVT-R Kaiga Goi Hattatsu Kensa [Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised]. Tokyo: Nihon Bunka Kagakusha.
Watanabe, M. (2000). Can Three-Year Old Children Take Spatial Perspectives? An Approach with the Face Rotation Task. The Japanese Journal of Psychology, 71, 26-33.
Watanabe, M. (2016). Developmental Changes in the Embodied Self of Spatial Perspective Taking. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 34, 212-225. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12126
Yirmiya, N., Sigman, M., & Zacks, D. (1994). Perceptual Perspective-Taking and Seriation Abilities in High-Functioning Children with Autism. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 263-272. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579400004570
Yu, A., & Zacks, J. (2010). The Role of Animacy in Spatial Transformations. Memory & Cognition, 38, 982-993. https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.38.7.982