Autisme et affordance

Christophe Gauld (1)

1 CHUGA - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [CHU Grenoble]

Introduction: While anecdotal reports of different functioning in autism abound, there have been to date no experimental studies showing fundamental implication of the neuropsychological theories in order to understand their world. The concept of affordance gives a different angle on the autism spectrum disorder. It enlightened this trouble on a completely different way than the classical view of the psychology. Material and methods: We conducted a litterature review to see how the different neurospsychological theories (i.e. executive functions, communication and social interaction disorders, weak central coherence and social motivation) interact with affordance. It seems that each theorie is implicated and influenced by the concept. Results: We found abundant literature on affordance, but few studies have explored the views to combine neurospsychological theories and affordance. However, the mix is useful, and compelling: we could understand differently the theoretical approach of the autistic child in his world, with the help of this notion. Conclusion: We propose, in this overview, to revisit the concept of affordance on the basis of the current psychological postulates of the ecological approach until pragmatic application of the concept to autism. The concept of affordance seems to be a key notion to gain further insights into the functioning of the autistic person. It appears that the affordance brings a broad view of the subject when it was included in its social environment.

L'affordance est la capacité généraliste d'être disposé à agir en fonction de ce que l'environnement nous propose. Cette intimité avec notre écosystème pourrait être modifiée dans le trouble du spectre de l'autisme. Nous avons effectué un aperçu de la littérature, afin de s'apercevoir comment les différentes théories neurospsychologiques actuelles pouvaient être impliquées. La théorie de l'esprit, les fonctions exécutives, les troubles de la communication et des interactions sociales, le déficit de cohérence centrale et la motivation sociale ont ainsi été « passés au filtre » de l'affordance. Il en ressort que ce concept est susceptible d'éclairer d'une autre manière les anomalies de fonctionnement de la personne autiste. La notion d'affordance apporte en effet une vision large du sujet inclus dans son environnement matériel et social.

Domaines: Psychologie; Psychiatrie et santé mentale; Philosophie

Christophe Gauld. Autisme et affordance. 2019. ⟨hal-02084451⟩