2017 Volume 7 Pages 3-14
This paper reviews a series of studies describing differences in narratives and finger-pointing in mother-child interactions,when drawing pictures are shown to autistic spectrum disorder（ASD） children and typically developing（TD）children from different cultures.Eye gaze movements of children（obtained by a Tobii eye tracker） using the same drawings are also compared.The results showed that mothers were responsible for the initiatives and children were responsive for the interactions, regardless of what kinds of factors the children had.ASD children were intermittent in gaze movement and spent less time gazing at the target persons and/or objects,suggesting that their visual information processing is different from TD children.Cultural and regional differences were also observed between Japan,China and the United States,as well as within Japan（Tokyo,Yamagata and Okinawa）.Individual differences in narratives and non-verbal behaviors were thought to reflect the differences in information processing strategies and countermeasures in social situations.These observed differences are formed both by neurological and cultural-environmental factors.This review suggests that we should look at how individual differences（whether they are based on cultural or neurological factors） are formed,tounderstand each individual.In a diverse society,we need to focus on background factors and look at their characteristics and development from a universal perspective.
