Interaction takes two: Typical adults exhibit mind-blindness towards those with autism spectrum disorder.

Edey, Rosanna; Cook, Jennifer; Brewer, Rebecca; Johnson, Mark H.; Bird, Geoffrey; Press, Clare

doi:10.1037/abn0000199

Cited by 152 publications

(167 citation statements)

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“…In accordance with our hypotheses and corroborating the findings of Edey et al [], Schwartz et al [], and McAleer et al [], analyses of accuracy (H1) and consistency (H2) of perception were comparable in ASD and TD. This suggests that social perception in ASD is intact.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Inferring power and dominance from dyadic nonverbal interactions in autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2019

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Research studies to date have revealed conflicting results with respect to the processing of nonverbal cues from social interactions in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of two important factors for the perception of dyadic social interactions, namely (a) the movement contingency and (b) the spatial context. To this end, 26 adult participants with ASD and 26 age‐, sex‐, and IQ‐matched typically developed control participants observed animations presenting nonverbal interactions between two human virtual characters enacting power relationships. We manipulated (a) movement contingency by exchanging one of the two original agents with an agent from another dyad and (b) spatial context by changing agents' spatial orientation to a back‐to‐back position. Participants were asked to rate dominance and submissiveness of these agents. Results showed that the movement contingency manipulation affected accuracy and consistency of power perception and that the spatial context manipulation slowed down reaction times comparably in both groups. With regard to group differences, individuals with ASD were found to judge power relationships slower compared to control participants, potentially suggesting a more explicit processing style in ASD. Furthermore, the spatial context manipulation slowed down the reaction times more in the contingent compared to the non‐contingent conditions only in the ASD group. These findings contribute to the ongoing debate whether individuals with ASD have difficulties in understanding nonverbal cues in a dyadic context by suggesting that they do so in more subtle ways than previously investigated. Autism Res 2019, 12: 505–516 © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary This study shows that the ability and speed of judging who is dominant in a social interaction depends on two factors: (a) whether their movements are matched and (b) whether they are facing each other or not. This is similarly the case for participants with and without autism. Interestingly, however, individuals with autism seem to judge generally slower, suggesting a more explicit processing style. The two factors seem to interact, suggesting that nonverbal processing difficulties are subtler than previously thought.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Inferring power and dominance from dyadic nonverbal interactions in autism spectrum disorder

et al. 2019

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“…Importantly, however, in both sensorimotor and imitation learning, we have found movement planning and execution differences between autistic and neurotypical controls. Others have also reported autism specific movement (i.e., increased variability in jerk) characteristics [Cook, ; Cook, Blakemore, & Press, ], which seem to influence the visual perception of observed actions [Brewer et al, ; Cook et al, ; Edey et al, ]. The implication is that a difference in autistic motor control could influence part of a predictive system that underpins social interaction in autism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting Off to a Shaky Start: Specificity in Planning and Feedforward Control During Sensorimotor Learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder

et al. 2019

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Whilst autistic individuals develop new internal action models during sensorimotor learning, the acquired movements are executed less accurately and with greater variability. Such movement profiles are related to differences in sensorimotor integration and/or altered feedforward/feedback sensorimotor control. We investigated the processes underlying sensorimotor learning in autism by quantifying accuracy and variability, relative timing, and feedforward and feedback control. Although autistic individuals demonstrated significant sensorimotor learning across trials, which was facilitated by processing knowledge‐of‐results feedback, motor execution was less accurate than non‐autistic individuals. Kinematic analysis indicated that autistic individuals showed significantly greater spatial variability at peak acceleration, but comparable spatial variability at peak velocity. These kinematic markers suggest that autistic movement profiles are driven by specific differences in sensorimotor control processes (i.e., internal action models) associated with planning and regulating the forces required to execute the movement. The reduction of variability at peak velocity indicates intact early feedback‐based sensorimotor control in autism. Understanding how feedforward and feedback‐based control processes operate provides an opportunity to explore how these control processes influence the acquisition of socio‐motor actions in autism. Autism Res 2020, 13: 423–435. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary Autistic adults successfully learned a new movement skill by physically practising it, and using feedback about how well they had done to become more accurate. When looking at the movements in detail, autistic adults were more variable than non‐autistic adults when planning (e.g., how much force to use), and performing, the movement. These differences impact how autistic individuals learn different types of movement skills, which might influence how other behaviours (e.g., imitation) are acquired that support social interaction.

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“…Previous results on pairs of NT participants [18, 44] instead showed no difference in coordination between same and opposite trials. Such an unexpected difference may be related to the fact that interaction is facilitated by within-group similarities in communication and interaction styles [45, 46], while interactions between out-group individuals may be more difficult [40]. Results on the difference in reaction times showed that when NT played adaptive, they always waited for their instructed partner to start his/her movement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autistic traits affect interpersonal motor coordination by modulating strategic use of role-based behavior

et al. 2017

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BackgroundDespite the fact that deficits in social communication and interaction are at the core of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), no study has yet tested individuals on a continuum from neurotypical development to autism in an on-line, cooperative, joint action task. In our study, we aimed to assess whether the degree of autistic traits affects participants' ability to modulate their motor behavior while interacting in a Joint Grasping task and according to their given role.MethodsSixteen pairs of adult participants played a cooperative social interactive game in which they had to synchronize their reach-to-grasp movements. Pairs were comprised of one ASC and one neurotypical with no cognitive disability. In alternate experimental blocks, one participant knew what action to perform (instructed role) while the other had to infer it from his/her partner’s action (adaptive role). When in the adaptive condition, participants were told to respond with an action that was either opposite or similar to their partner. Participants also played a non-social control game in which they had to synchronize with a non-biological stimulus.ResultsIn the social interactive task, higher degree of autistic traits predicted less ability to modulate joint action according to one’s interactive role. In the non-social task, autistic traits did not predict differences in movement preparation and planning, thus ruling out the possibility that social interactive task results were due to basic motor or executive function difficulties. Furthermore, when participants played the non-social game, the higher their autistic traits, the more they were interfered by the non-biological stimulus.ConclusionsOur study shows for the first time that high autistic traits predict a stereotypical interaction style when individuals are required to modulate their movements in order to coordinate with their partner according to their role in a joint action task. Specifically, the infrequent emergence of role-based motor behavior modulation during on-line motor cooperation in participants with high autistic traits sheds light on the numerous difficulties ASC have in nonverbal social interactions.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13229-017-0141-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Interaction takes two: Typical adults exhibit mind-blindness towards those with autism spectrum disorder.

Cited by 152 publications

References 41 publications

Inferring power and dominance from dyadic nonverbal interactions in autism spectrum disorder

Inferring power and dominance from dyadic nonverbal interactions in autism spectrum disorder

Getting Off to a Shaky Start: Specificity in Planning and Feedforward Control During Sensorimotor Learning in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autistic traits affect interpersonal motor coordination by modulating strategic use of role-based behavior

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