Poster C11, Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 10:45 am – 12:30 pm, Restaurant Hall
Chameleon effects in autism: Social interactions are influenced by bodily mimicry
Bahar Tunçgenç1,2, Carolyn Koch1, Inge-Marie Eigsti3, Stewart Mostofsky1,2;1Kennedy Krieger Institute, 2Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 3University of Connecticut
The nonconscious mimicry of the movements, postures and facial expressions of an interlocutor has important effects on social communication (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). Mimicry facilitates interpersonal liking and prosocial behaviours, and may serve to coordinate evolutionarily group actions (Schurmann et al., 2004), including during discourse (Eigsti, 2013). Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are less likely to mimic emotional facial expressions, potentially reflecting broader attention and emotion recognition abilities. There is also growing evidence of autism-associated impairments in spontaneous mimicry of bodily actions; this work typically ascribes impairments to broader impairments in social communication. Examining different action types can elucidate the domain-general underpinnings of mimicry; including participants with ASD serves to provide a broader range of individual differences in these functions. This research examines the role of general cognitive and motor skills, and broader ASD symptomatology, in mimicry. Methods. Participants were forty children (n=22 ASD, n=18 typical development, TD), ages 8-12 years, matched on age and verbal and nonverbal IQ. Children watched a video of an actor narrating an age-appropriate story. At intervals, the narrator paused so participants could retell the story. This provided for two baseline blocks (where the narrator did not make any story-irrelevant gestures) and three test blocks (where the narrator performed four gestures per block: yawning, scratching her arm, rubbing her face, and drinking from a cup). Mimicry actions during “listen” and “retell” blocks were coded, collapsed across blocks. Data were recorded for the Development Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ; motor coordination) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2; ASD symptomatology). Visual fixation on the video was recorded as an index of attentional engagement. Results. A repeated-measures ANOVA comparing the frequency of object-centered mimicry (Drinking), person-centered mimicry (Arm-scratching, Face-rubbing) and highly person-centered mimicry (yawning) revealed a main effect of mimicry type, p<.001, and a significant type by diagnostic group interaction, p=.03. Yawning occurred infrequently across groups [M(SD)=.45(.93)], with no group difference and no difference from baseline to test blocks. In contrast, across groups, children were significantly more likely to perform Arm-scratching and Face-rubbing actions at test vs. baseline blocks, indicating a mimicry effect, p’s=.03. These effects were driven primarily by the TD group; the ASD group’s actions did not differ significantly by block. Person-centered mimicry was weakly correlated with ASD symptomatology across the sample, r(37)=-.29, p<.10. There were no significant correlations with motor skills (DCDQ), IQ, or attentional engagement. Discussion. This study introduces a naturalistic method for assessing spontaneous mimicry in social interaction. Findings suggest reduced mimicry of person-centered actions in ASD, weakly associated with broader social communication skills. Results did not indicate a significant role of motor skills, assessed via questionnaire; data were also collected for objective motor tasks, currently being coded. These findings might reflect the reduced salience of specific actions; reduced attention to interpersonal coordination in the ASD group; or a broader reduction in links between perception and action in ASD. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that perception-action coupling plays a significant role in social coordination, both in this diagnosis and more broadly.
Themes: Disorders: Developmental, Multisensory or Sensorimotor Integration
Method: Behavioral