Through the Kinesthetic Lens: Observation of Social Attunement in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Samaritter, Rosemarie; Payne, Helen

doi:10.3390/bs7010014

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In DMT, the therapist uses LMA to observe and attend to the client’s movement to change and expand movement components, observe subtle expression of emotion, share these observations with the client, and suggest how to use movement components to foster emotional resiliency in everyday life ( Laban and Ullman, 1980 ; Shafir et al, 2016 ; Tsachor and Shafir, 2017 ). In research, LMA has been used to describe movement associated with diverse topics from personality ( Levy and Duke, 2003 ; Van Koningsveld, 2011 ), mental health issues ( Koch et al, 2007 ; Samaritter and Payne, 2017 ), interpersonal behavior ( Roudposhti et al, 2012 ), emotion and emotional expression ( Lourens et al, 2010 ; Gross et al, 2012 ; Shafir et al, 2016 ), and affect, attitude, and cognition ( Koch, 2014 ; Koch et al, 2014 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Move and Be Moved: The Effect of Moving Specific Movement Elements on the Experience of Happiness

2021

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Dynamic body feedback is used in dance movement therapy (DMT), with the aim to facilitate emotional expression and a change of emotional state through movement and dance for individuals with psychosocial or psychiatric complaints. It has been demonstrated that moving in a specific way can evoke and regulate related emotions. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of executing a unique set of kinetic movement elements on an individual mover’s experience of happiness. A specific sequence consisting of movement elements that recent studies have related to the feeling of happiness was created and used in a series of conditions. To achieve a more realistic reflection of DMT practice, the study incorporated the interpersonal dimension between the dance movement therapist (DMTh) and the client, and the impact of this interbodily feedback on the emotional state of the client. This quantitative study was conducted in a within-subject design. Five male and 20 female participants (mean age = 20.72) participated in three conditions: a solo executed movement sequence, a movement sequence executed with a DMTh who attuned and mirrored the movements, and a solo executed movement sequence not associated with feelings of happiness. Participants were only informed about the movements and not the feelings that may be provoked by these movements. The effects on individuals were measured using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and visual analog scales. Results showed that a specific movement sequence based on movement elements associated with happiness executed with a DMTh can significantly enhance the corresponding affective state. An additional finding of this study indicated that facilitating expressed emotion through movement elements that are not associated with happiness can enhance feelings such as empowerment, pride, and determination, which are experienced as part of positive affect. The results show the impact of specific full-body movement elements on the emotional state and the support outcome of DMT on emotion regulation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Move and Be Moved: The Effect of Moving Specific Movement Elements on the Experience of Happiness

2021

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“…Techniques such as attunement and mirroring, in which a participant leads or follows another's movements or jointly improvises movements with a partner focus on the embodied experience of interactional synchrony, social coordination, and emotional responsivity (Feniger-Schaal et al, 2018). Samaritter and Payne (2017) found that when a dance/movement therapist attuned to (sensed the emotional tone of the actions), and responsively followed, a non-verbal child's movements, the child's own spontaneous interactional behaviors toward the therapist increased. These non-verbal interactional behaviors appeared to follow a development sequence, and when these interactional behaviors are combined, they "contribute to a high complexity of interpersonal engagement and attunement during shared movement actions" (Samaritter and Payne, 2017, pp.…”

Section: Dance/movement Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mirroring Dance: Synchrony and Interaction Quality of Five Adolescents and Adults on the Autism Spectrum in Dance/Movement Therapy

et al. 2021

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Background: Individuals on the autism spectrum are often described as having atypical social interactions. Ideally, interactional synchrony helps any interaction flow smoothly with each individual responding verbally, non-verbally, and/or emotionally within a short timeframe. Differences in interactional synchrony may impact how individuals on the autism spectrum experience social encounters.Method: This mixed methods pilot study examined interactional synchrony in five cases of adolescents and adults on the autism spectrum through secondary analysis of video of the participants in movement-based mirroring tasks during dance/movement therapy. Raters described the movement and interactions of the participants while they were leading and following mirroring and engaged in open-ended free dances with a partner. Videos were also scored on measures of affective engagement, flow of the interaction, and synchrony.Results: One of the most striking findings of this study was the difference between engagement in the instructions of the task and engagement with the partner: participants often followed the instructions for the mirroring tasks with little further social engagement with their partner. When participants did engage in moments of social initiation, attunement to the partner, and interactive behaviors, these did not develop into longer interactions. A paired t-test of the correlation coefficients for each participant showed that scores on synchrony and affective engagement were more strongly positively correlated in the less structured open-ended dance and in video clips of interactive behaviors, than in the videos of simply leading or following mirroring. Synchrony was also significantly more strongly positively correlated with the observed flow of the interaction than with observed affective engagement. With the small sample size, however, most of the correlation coefficients were not significant and should be tested on a larger sample.Discussion: Interpersonal synchrony may not be sufficient to effectively support social engagement when individuals on the autism spectrum simply follow instructions to synchronize their movements. Synchrony-based interventions may therefore need to include more complex open-ended social scenarios as interactional synchrony may then be more correlated with perceived interaction quality. Therapists may also need to partner with participants to model using non-verbal social behaviors to develop interactions within mirroring tasks.

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“…Especially, imitative behaviors and synchronized movements are of utmost importance in creating psychological connectedness. Indeed some preliminary studies are now underway that examine how a therapy based on dance (a very basic whole-body rhythmic activity) can help to establish a non-verbal communicative dynamic dyad with a therapist (e.g., Samaritter and Payne, 2017 ).…”

Section: Movement Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balance Performance in Autism: A Brief Overview

Stins

Emck

2018

Front. Psychol.

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Children with autism not only have limited social and communicative skills but also have motor abnormalities, such as poor timing and coordination of balance. Moreover, impaired gross motor skills hamper participation with peers. Balance control is interesting from a cognitive science perspective, since it involves a complex interplay between information processing, motor planning, and timing and sequencing of muscle movements. In this paper, we discuss the background of motor problems in children with autism, focusing on how posture is informed by sensory information processing. We also discuss the neurobiological basis of balance problems, and how this is related to anxiety in this group. We then discuss possible avenues for treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, especially as regards movement-related interventions. Finally, we present a theoretical outlook and discuss whether some of the symptoms in ASD can be understood from an embodied cognition perspective.

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Through the Kinesthetic Lens: Observation of Social Attunement in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Cited by 18 publications

References 49 publications

Move and Be Moved: The Effect of Moving Specific Movement Elements on the Experience of Happiness

Move and Be Moved: The Effect of Moving Specific Movement Elements on the Experience of Happiness

The Mirroring Dance: Synchrony and Interaction Quality of Five Adolescents and Adults on the Autism Spectrum in Dance/Movement Therapy

Balance Performance in Autism: A Brief Overview

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