Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Impairments Of Social Motor Synchrony Evident In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Paula Fitzpatrick, Jean A. Frazier, David M. Cochran, Teresa Mitchell, Caitlin Coleman, R. C. Schmidt

Psychology Department Faculty Works

Social interactions typically involve movements of the body that become synchronized over time and both intentional and spontaneous interactional synchrony have been found to be an essential part of successful human interaction. However, our understanding of the importance of temporal dimensions of social motor synchrony in social dysfunction is limited. Here, we used a pendulum coordination paradigm to assess dynamic, process-oriented measures of social motor synchrony in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Our data indicate that adolescents with ASD demonstrate less synchronization in both spontaneous and intentional interpersonal coordination. Coupled oscillator modeling suggests that ASD participants assembled …