In the experiment, all children were asked to observe as an adult pulling a toy, in this case a rubber duck, a Tupperware. Some of the steps taken were strictly necessary, and release the lid of the box, while others were unnecessary, and close the cover twice. They then gave Tupper and children were asked to take out the toy as quickly as possible.

Children without autism were much more likely to copy the unnecessary steps, even though they are not specifically stated that copied everything I had done the adult. About 50% of children without autism skip unnecessary steps, compared to 22% of children with autism.

"The data suggest that children with autism do things efficiently and social, while typical children do things more efficiently socially," said Antonia Hamilton, author of the study and researcher at the University of Nottingham in England.

According to researchers, children with normal development copied unnecessary movements because they have a strong desire to be like everyone else and that social motivation can be reduced in children with autism.

If you want to read the full article you can do so at: Children with autism do not overimitate.

Picture By Andwhatsnext at en.wikipediaTimVickers at en.wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], from Wikimedia Commons