Journal Article

Learning by Social Interactions: Insights into Observational Learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Pullano, Luca, Iaquinta, Tiziana, Commodari, Elena, Foti, Francesca

2026

Overview

Background/Objectives: Observational learning allows people to acquire new skills by observing the actions of others embedded in their social environment. From childhood, observational learning is a central process in human cognitive development, playing a crucial role in the acquisition of complex skills. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit deficits in what are considered prerequisites for observational learning to occur (i.e., attending, imitation, delayed imitation, consequence discrimination). Considering this, the present review examined the literature on the complex and timely question of whether individuals with ASD can learn by observation, while accounting for the social versus non-social nature/content of the tasks. Methods: This work was a narrative review aimed at providing an overview of published studies in which observational learning was analyzed in individuals with ASD. Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria and were eligible for this review. Results: The core findings indicate that individuals with ASD may be able to learn by observing others, especially when taught the prerequisites for observational learning. Furthermore, the findings indicate that observation may be an effective way to expand the typically restricted and circumscribed interests of children with ASD and to increase emotion recognition skills. Conclusions: Overall, these findings have significant educational, clinical, social, and economic implications, supporting the use of observational learning strategies for both social and non-social skills to reduce reliance on expensive one-on-one teaching and to address some of the core deficits of ASD.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
• Subject: Age / Autism / Behavior / Career development / Children / Emotions / generalization / Information processing / Intellectual development / learning by observation / Learning strategies / Observational learning / Review / Skills / social and non-social observational learning / Social aspects / Social discrimination learning / Social environment / social environments / Social interaction / Social interactions / social learning / video modeling