Evaluating the importance of social motor synchronization and motor skill for understanding autism

TLDR

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by core deficits in social interaction, yet the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, with social motor synchronization emerging as a promising explanatory factor. The study aimed to determine whether dynamical measures of social motor synchronization can distinguish children with ASD from controls and to examine its relationship with motor control problems. Researchers assessed synchronization dynamics between children with ASD and typically developing peers while also evaluating motor performance, integrating both synchronization and motor control measurements. Children with ASD displayed less stable and distinct synchronization patterns, performed slower and more variable motor movements, and showed that motor‑timing–related synchronization correlated with motor ability, suggesting dynamical measures could inform ASD diagnosis and prognosis. Autism Res 2017, 10:1687–1699; © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract

Impairments in social interaction and communicating with others are core features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the specific processes underlying such social competence impairments are not well understood. An important key for increasing our understanding of ASD‐specific social deficits may lie with the social motor synchronization that takes place when we implicitly coordinate our bodies with others. Here, we tested whether dynamical measures of synchronization differentiate children with ASD from controls and further explored the relationships between synchronization ability and motor control problems. We found (a) that children with ASD exhibited different and less stable patterns of social synchronization ability than controls; (b) children with ASD performed motor movements that were slower and more variable in both spacing and timing; and (c) some social synchronization that involved motor timing was related to motor ability but less rhythmic synchronization was not. These findings raise the possibility that objective dynamical measures of synchronization ability and motor skill could provide new insights into understanding the social deficits in ASD that could ultimately aid clinical diagnosis and prognosis. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1687–1699 . © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.