Interacting with autistic virtual characters: intrapersonal synchrony of nonverbal behavior affects participants’ perception

Bloch, Carola ; Tepest, Ralf ; Koeroglu, Sevim ; Feikes, Kyra; Jording, Mathis ; Vogeley, Kai und Falter-Wagner, Christine M. (2024): Interacting with autistic virtual characters: intrapersonal synchrony of nonverbal behavior affects participants’ perception. In: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Vol. 274: pp. 1585-1599

Abstract

Temporal coordination of communicative behavior is not only located between but also within interaction partners (e.g., gaze and gestures). This intrapersonal synchrony (IaPS) is assumed to constitute interpersonal alignment. Studies show systematic variations in IaPS in individuals with autism, which may affect the degree of interpersonal temporal coordination. In the current study, we reversed the approach and mapped the measured nonverbal behavior of interactants with and without ASD from a previous study onto virtual characters to study the effects of the differential IaPS on observers (N = 68), both with and without ASD (crossed design). During a communication task with both characters, who indicated targets with gaze and delayed pointing gestures, we measured response times, gaze behavior, and post hoc impression formation. Results show that character behavior indicative of ASD resulted in overall enlarged decoding times in observers and this effect was even pronounced in observers with ASD. A classification of observer’s gaze types indicated differentiated decoding strategies. Whereas non-autistic observers presented with a rather consistent eyes-focused strategy associated with efficient and fast responses, observers with ASD presented with highly variable decoding strategies. In contrast to communication efficiency, impression formation was not influenced by IaPS. The results underline the importance of timing differences in both production and perception processes during multimodal nonverbal communication in interactants with and without ASD. In essence, the current findings locate the manifestation of reduced reciprocity in autism not merely in the person, but in the interactional dynamics of dyads.

• Item Type: Journal article
• EU Funded Grant Agreement Number: 824128
• EU Projects: Horizon 2020
• Faculties: Medicine > Medical Center of the University of Munich > Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
• Subjects: 600 Technology > 610 Medicine and health
• ISSN: 0940-1334
• Language: English
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - 447947368