The Developmental Psychopathology Research Unit comprises a group of researchers devoted to the scientific study of human psychological development. Led by Professor Peter Hobson, who holds a joint post with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at UCL, our current research projects involve Dr Tony Lee, Ms Rosa Garcia-Perez, Ms Gayathri Chidambi, Professor Beate Hermelin, Dr Matthew Patrick, and Ms Jo-Anne Carlyle, as well as a number of external collaborators. The principal components of our work are as follows:
(I)
Projects in autism
1.
Interpersonal relations and the self in autism
Amongst the areas of interest are children's drawings of themselves, their use of the pronoun 'we', and their recognition and experience of feelings such as embarrassment and guilt. We are also studying their abilities in role-taking.
We are studying adolescents' interpersonal engagement in conversations, and aspects of nonverbal communication in young children with autism. We are also conducting an investigation of pointing and understanding points.
We have recently published a paper in the Journal of Autism and Development Disorders with colleagues in Bangor, North Wales, on parental reports of impairments in interpersonal engagement in infants with autism. We are now investigating the conditions under which young children with autism do engage with someone else, in the setting of a videotaped play- based assessment interview.
2.
Imitation in autism
We have completed the data collection for a study that follows up our published a study entitled: Imitation and identification in autism, which was the first to demonstrate that children with the disorder fail to adopt the style and the self-orientation with which someone else carries out actions. We believe these studies point to the significance of identification for cognitive as well as social development.
3.
The natural history of autism in congenitally blind children
We are continuing a major programme of work on the relation between congenital blindness and autism that has already led to several publications.
(II)
Studies of mother-infant relations
We have been studying the patterns of mother-infant relationship in cases where the mothers have difficulties in their personal relationships, and (in collaboration with the Open University and the University of East London) in cases where the infants have Down's syndrome.
(III)
Psychodynamic research
We have a range of work addressing the manner in which adults with interpersonal difficulties think about and experience other people.
