Abstract
Individuals with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show altered behavioral synchrony and empathic behavior. Yet, an ecologically valid examination of these in adolescents is still required. We employed a social interaction sequence comprising a friendly conversation with a confederate, an expression of distress by her, and a return to friendly conversation. 44 male adolescents (22 with ASD) participated. Socio-emotional behaviors, coded by blind raters and through automated analyses of motion, were analyzed. Results indicated reduced synchrony in the ASD group. Moreover, whereas controls displayed a decrease in synchrony when facing another’s distress, adolescents with ASD showed no such change. No group differences were found on empathic behavior. Findings imply gaps between verbal and non-verbal responses of adolescents with ASD to a distressed interaction partner.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4261-4273 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | Oct 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Funding
We are grateful to the adolescents who took part in the study, to Prof. Michal Lavidor for her advice, to Dr. Irit Mor-Snir for her support, and to Tomer Kleinfeld, Rolli Azenkot-Levi, Maayan Berkovitch, Anat Chomsky, Heli Cohen, Shulamit Deitch, Bat-Sheva Gans, Roni Golan, Noa Reinhardt and Lior Weil, for assisting with data collection and coding. This study was supported by grants from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) to Ofer Golan (#1009/15) and to Ilanit Gordon (#2096/15 and #1726/15).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Israel Science Foundation | 1009/15, 2096/15, 1726/15 |
Keywords
- Adolescence
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Behavioral synchrony
- Motion energy analysis
- Prosocial behavior