Temporal Synchrony in Autism: a Systematic Review

Abstract

Temporal synchrony is the alignment of processes in time within or across individuals in social interaction and is observed and studied in various domains using wide-ranging paradigms. Evidence suggesting reduced temporal synchrony in autism (e.g. compared to neurotypicals) has hitherto not been reviewed. To systematically review the magnitude and generalisability of the difference across different tasks and contexts, EBSCO, OVID, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched. Thirty-two studies were identified that met our inclusion criteria in audio-visual, audio-motor, visuo-tactile, visuo-motor, social motor, and conversational synchrony domains. Additionally, two intervention studies were included. The findings suggest that autistic participants showed reduced synchrony tendencies in every category of temporal synchrony reviewed. Implications, methodological weaknesses, and evidence gaps are discussed.

Tactile cues are more intrinsically linked to motor timing than visual cues in visual-tactile sensorimotor synchronization

“…In support of this three-way relationship between sensory perception, motor function and temporal processing, individuals with ASD experience a variety of sensory difficulties associated with processing (Beker et al, 2017 ; Tavassoli et al, 2014 ), integration (Brandwein et al, 2012 , 2015 ; Russo et al, 2010 ; Stevenson et al, 2014a , b ), and binding (Brock et al, 2002 ; Foss-Feig et al, 2010 ; Greenfield et al, 2015 ; Zhou et al, 2018 ), as well as motor deficits (Bhat et al, 2011 ; Calhoun et al, 2011 ; Cascio et al, 2012 ; Fournier et al, 2010a , b ; Rinehart et al, 2006 ). These motor deficits extend to sensorimotor synchronization, with ASD participants showing higher sensorimotor synchronization variability compared with non-ASD participants (Morimoto et al, 2018 ; Murat Baldwin et al, 2021 ). Further, it has been suggested that individuals with ASD may have deficits in temporal synchrony (Murat Baldwin et al, 2021 ), temporal processing, and temporal perception (Allman, 2011 ; Allman et al, 2011 ; Casassus et al, 2019 ; Stevenson et al, 2016 ), and experience difficulty in detecting temporal changes in sensory stimuli (Brodeur et al, 2014 ; Falter et al, 2012 ).…”

“…These motor deficits extend to sensorimotor synchronization, with ASD participants showing higher sensorimotor synchronization variability compared with non-ASD participants (Morimoto et al, 2018 ; Murat Baldwin et al, 2021 ). Further, it has been suggested that individuals with ASD may have deficits in temporal synchrony (Murat Baldwin et al, 2021 ), temporal processing, and temporal perception (Allman, 2011 ; Allman et al, 2011 ; Casassus et al, 2019 ; Stevenson et al, 2016 ), and experience difficulty in detecting temporal changes in sensory stimuli (Brodeur et al, 2014 ; Falter et al, 2012 ). As individuals with ASD often have differences in cerebellum function (D'Mello & Stoodley, 2015 ; Mosconi et al, 2015 )—a crucial neural region involved in subsecond and suprasecond timing mechanisms and motor control (Bijsterbosch et al, 2011 ; Grondin, 2010 ; Rao et al, 2001 )—this difficulty with temporal perception and processing may be related to activity in the cerebellum.…”

Rhythmic Relating: Bidirectional Support for Social Timing in Autism Therapies

“…Children and adolescents with autism (including high functioning autism, HFA) display reduced or atypical synchrony in conditions rating both individual motor timing and SMS (meta-analyses: Baldwin et al, 2021;McNaughton and Redcay, 2020 * ).…”

“…There is a slowly growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that effective targeting of temporal synchrony is a mediating factor within varied therapeutic interventions with young children with autism (with, and without LD) (Wimpory et al, 1995(Wimpory et al, , 2007Landa et al, 2011;Pickles et al, 2015;Srinivasan et al, 2015;Dvir et al, 2020;Forti et al, 2020;Griffioen et al, 2020;Whitehouse et al, 2021). Metaanalyses conclude the early primacy of synchrony challenges in autism (including HFA), yet cite the lack of focused therapies (Bloch et al, 2019;McNaughton and Redcay, 2020 * ;Baldwin et al, 2021).…”

Detecting Time Concept Competence in Children with Autism Spectrum and Attention Disorders

“…Nonetheless, all three, diachronic thinking, retrospective memory, and prospective memory, were found to have weaknesses in children with ASD regardless of intellectual capacities. Furthermore, a systematic research review 51 revealed individuals with ASD exhibit mostly temporally asynchronous behaviours when tasks demanded integration of modalities: audio-visual, audio-motor, visuo-tactile, visuo-motor, social motor, and conversational synchrony (diminished synchronisation in spontaneous and intentional interpersonal synchrony, and gesture performance). In effect, research confirmed 52 that auditory temporal processing for rapid signals associated with language processing are impaired in children with ASD.…”