Interacting with others: the role of Temporal Contingency and Motor Interpersonal Synchrony in Autism Spectrum Disorder and in Typical Development

Interpersonal synchrony (IS) is the spontaneous rhythmic and temporal coordination of actions, emotions, thoughts, behavioural, neurological, and physiological process that occurs between two or more people. All the levels of IS appear to have a great impact on facilitating social interaction in the typical population (TD). The synchronization seems to be decreased or absents in the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), in which the social and communication difficulties are the main traits. The present work investigates Motor Interpersonal Synchrony throughout a meta-analysis of eleven dyadic studies on TD and ASD participants. The aim is to understand if ASD individuals display difficulties in synchronizing within a social context. Furthermore, an experimental paradigm tests if two aspects, the temporal contingency (the closeness between an action and the environmental answer) and presence of engaging and non-engaging social stimuli, interfere with the synchronization process and with the preference for social stimuli. This experimental paradigm involves TD and ASD children and adolescents. Finally, the clinical implications of the Interpersonal Synchrony, of Temporal contingency and Engagement are discussed.