Experimentation Critique

Abstract

Autism is defined as a complex biological disorder that generally lasts throughout a person's life. Autism is a developmental disability and is first detected childhood. This critique will examine the experimentation methods used to study autism.

Experimentation Critique

Psychologist and the medical community make many claims about human behavior based on research. In science, the ultimate authority is research and experimentation. One area where mental health care authority is experimenting is with autism. Autism is a complex biological disorder that generally lasts throughout a person's life. The scientific community calls autism a developmental disability because it starts at in early childhood, before age three, while the brain is still developing. Autism causes delays or problems with many different ways in which a person develops or grows. One of the symptoms of this disorder is evident by the way it cuts off people with autism from the world around them (Rodier, 2000).

Autism affects children with the disorder in many different ways. For example, an autistic child may not want their mothers to hold them. Adults and children with autism may not look others in the eye. Some people with autism never learn how to talk. These behaviors not only make life difficult for people who have autism, but also make life hard for their families, their health care providers, their teachers, and anyone who comes in contact with them (Rodier, 2000).

Causes of Autism

Since the mental disorder called autism was identified, researchers have struggled to determine what causes it. Scientists claim conventional wisdom for where originates is that autism is inherited, although environmental risk factors also seem to play a role (Rodier, 2000). Starting in the late 1990s, investigators in the laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, set out to explore if there was a connection between autism and a newly discovered class of nerve cells in the brain called mirror neurons. Because these types of neurons appeared to be involved in abilities such as empathy and the perception of another individual's intentions, it seemed logical to conclude that a dysfunction of the mirror neuron system could result in some of the symptoms of autism. Over the twenty years, several studies have provided evidence for this theory. Current investigations of mirror neurons may explain how autism starts, and in the process physicians may develop better ways to diagnose and successfully treat the disorder (Rodier, 2000).

Asperger Syndrome

A new scientific review focuses on papers that pertain to recent work on Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism. The authors note areas in which there was a large amount of research written and published over the last year. Some of these studies include: social communication, sensory characteristics, eye gaze, neurocognitive aspects, and treatment and intervention studies (McConnell, 2002). Many people including children, adolescents, and even adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism appear to be deficient in social skills. Some skills that may be missing involve self-referencing, empathy, determination of emotions in others or inferring the thoughts of others. Some neurocognitive studies suggest that Asperger syndrome and high functioning autism are distinct disorders (McConnell, 2002).

Genetic Pathways to Asperger Syndrome

While researching the experimentation for autism, a variety of social-behavioral interventions appeared in the literature, with generally positive outcomes. The presents of one or more disorders in cases such as Asperger syndrome and other psychiatric conditions continues to be identified. Experts have concluded that studies focusing on descriptions and specific conditions of social deficits in high functioning autism have been written studied frequently this year. With the decoding of the human genome it is also likely that the search for genetic pathways to Asperger syndrome/high functioning autism will continue (Bibby, Eikeseth, Martin, Mudford, & Reeves 2001).

Relational Frame Theory

Perspective-taking, or the ability to demonstrate awareness of informational states in person with autism has been of recent interest in behavioral psychology. This is, in part, a result of a modern behavioral approach to human language known as Relational Frame Theory, which views perspective taking as generalized operant which is behavior based upon a history of reinforcement for relational responding (Bibby, Eikeseth, Martin, Mudford, & Reeves 2001). Previous research has developed a behavioral protocol for assessing relational learning deficits in perspective-taking. Further research has implicated the lack of perspective-taking as a basis for the social deficits observed in children with autism. However, no experimental investigations have been conducted on relational learning deficits in perspective taking with autistic populations (Bibby, Eikeseth, Martin, Mudford, & Reeves 2001).

Experimentation in Autism

The paper used in this University of Phoenix critique reports 2 experiments that investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder demonstrated relational learning deficits. The study focused on a perspective-taking task as compared to kids their own age who did not have autism. We also investigated whether accuracy in perspective-taking correlated with scores on standardized tests commonly used in the assessment of autism spectrum disorder, and whether relational responding in perspective-taking improves following a history of reinforcement for such responding (Bibby, Eikeseth, Martin, Mudford, & Reeves 2001). Results demonstrated statistically significant differences in errors as a function of type of relation. The tests also revealed that visual inspection by autistic participants made more errors than typically developing children (Bibby, Eikeseth, Martin, Mudford, & Reeves 2001).

Ethical Challenges of Experimentation

As demonstrated in this critique, advances in understanding autism and other developmental disorders will come from an integration of various research strategies. The highly heritable nature of autism makes it scientifically important to involve parents and siblings as research participants. However, many studies on autism pose ethical challenges because they do not offer direct benefit to the children. Researchers will try to present an in-depth ethical analysis of current research strategies