Poor synchronization yet adequate tempo‐keeping in adults with autism

Abstract

Sensorimotor synchronization to external events is fundamental to social interactions. Adults with autism spectrum condition (ASC) have difficulty with synchronization, manifested in both social and non-social situations, such as paced finger-tapping tasks, where participants synchronize their taps to metronome beats. What limits ASC's synchronization is a matter of debate, especially whether it stems from reduced online correction of synchronization error (the "slow update" account) or from noisy internal representations (the "elevated internal noise" account). To test these opposing theories, we administered a synchronization-continuation tapping task, with and without tempo changes. Participants were asked to synchronize with the metronome and continue the tempo when it stopped. Since continuation is based only on internal representations, the slow update hypothesis predicts no difficulty, whereas the elevated noise hypothesis predicts similar or enhanced difficulties. Additionally, tempo changes were introduced, to assess whether adequate updating of internal representations to external changes is possible when given a longer temporal window for updating. We found that the ability to keep the metronome's tempo after it stopped did not differ between ASC and typically developing (TD) individuals. Importantly, when given a longer period to adapt to external changes, keeping a modified tempo was also similar in ASC. These results suggest that synchronization difficulties in ASC stem from slow update rather than elevated internal noise.

The mediating role of childhood motor skills on the association between error correction and social pragmatic communication in adulthood

“…Our finding that timekeeper noise showed no effect on SPC skills is similar to findings of other studies that report that longer-term statistics are intact in individuals with ASC (Goris et al, 2022;Kasten et al, 2023;Lieder et al, 2019;Poole, Casassus, Gowen, Poliakoff, & Jones, 2022;Vishne et al, 2021). Other studies have suggested that timekeeping is impaired in ASC (Panagiotidi, Overton, & Stafford, 2017;Zhou et al, 2021).…”

“…The significant focal exposure-outcome effect of motor error correction on SPC is consistent with Vishne et al (2021) who showed a dimensional relationship between communication in the AQ50 questionnaire and error correction as quantified with a similar computational model. Our study and that of Vishne and coauthors also are in line with ASC group studies (Kasten et al, 2023). Such studies have generally not quantified SPC, but it can be assumed that ASC individuals had clinical levels of SPC difficulties as they are required for an ASC diagnosis.…”

“…Vishne et al (2021) found impaired error correction ability on the group level in ASC, as well as a dimensional diagnosis-independent relationship between error correction ability and SPC difficulties (measured with a subset of questions on the AQ50 questionnaire) (Vishne et al, 2021). Kasten, Jacoby, & Ahissar (2023) corroborated these findings, demonstrating that individuals with ASC exhibited impairments in tempo tracking, particularly in response to tempo accelerations (Kasten, Jacoby, & Ahissar, 2023). Motor synchronization, measured through finger tapping, was associated with receptive grammar skills in children with and without developmental language disorder (Ladányi et al, 2023).…”

“…One such improvement might be using a longer synchronization phase than the five beats used in this study. Previous studies showed that autistic individuals may need more time for synchronization (Kasten et al, 2023;Vishne et al, 2021), suggesting that a longer synchronization phase might provide extra information on differences in the time course of synchronization. Lastly, because several of our variables were continuous, not all possible combinations of levels of the exposure, mediator and outcome can be observed.…”

Do we all synch alike? Brain-body-environment interactions in Autism

“…In our work we have found that when presenting rhythmic stimuli to individuals where the timing of stimulus onset is predictable, there is reduced phase locking of neuro-oscillations, as well as altered neural indices of predictive processing, in children with autism 26 . Taken together with evidence for impaired behavioral synchronization 27,28 and slower updating of motor and behavioral responses 29 when presented with rhythmic sensory stimulation, there is mounting evidence for altered neural synchronization with the environment as a possible mechanism contributing to autism. The critical role of neural entrainment in adaptive behavior and preliminary evidence of its impairment highlights the importance of understanding these neural functions in individuals with ASD and how they mediate interaction with the environment.…”