We found a key dynamic difference: NT adults showed no significant change in E/I balance between passive and active tasks. However, AUT participants showed significantly steeper slopes (increased inhibition) when engaging in the active task compared to passive viewing.

We reviewed 25 studies looking into interaction between autistic, non-autistic, or mix-neurotype dyads and we systematically mapped social behaviours (like turn-taking or mutual gaze) and interaction outcomes (like established rapport).

We're looking for a PhD candidate for a project investigating neural synchrony in #autism at @upf.edu ! 🎓

📍 Location: Barcelona, Spain
📅 Duration: 3–4 years, starting Winter term 2025/26
🔍 About the project & application: See attachment 👇

Please share with anyone interested!

@mrgbcn.bsky.social

Here's a question to #Autistic friends: What do you think about "a person *in* the spectrum" instead of "*on* the spectrum"? This "in" is supposed to reflect better the multidimensionality of autism characteristics and reject the idea of linearity.

PS. I don't know who to credit for the image...🫣

Bonus: we additionally explored the potential (non-linear) MSI effects in different frequencies and time windows. We hope this will help generate future hypotheses!

11/n We also compared the size of these effects. The groups did not differ in the behavioural benefit, but NT showed larger (non-linear) neural MSI than AUT.

10/n However, to see if there was an *integration* of A and V, we looked at non-linear MSI processes. For that, we contrasted the brain responses in AV trials against the sum of the responses in A and V trials (AV vs. A+V). And this contrast was significant only in the NT group!

9/n Both groups also showed larger alpha suppression (= integration load) in AV than A or V. So: both groups showed similar simple linear MSI processes (AV > A, AV > V). That means that both groups benefit from *adding* the A and V speech information.

8/n Both autistic (AUT) and neurotypical (NT) participants were better and faster in AV than A or V, with no group differences (NT were a bit faster, but no group*cond interaction). So, they all benefitted from the additional visual speech information in adverse listening conditions.

7/n We measured behavioural (accuracy of word recognition) and neural (alpha suppression) responses of autistic and non-autistic adults, while they were watching the video in either visual-only (noisy mic🎙️), audio-only (camera off📷), or audio-visual conditions.

6/n So we built a social context around our stimuli: three persons playing a word game in an online video-chat facilitated by a teacher. The noise is there on purpose!

3/n It would be so much easier to understand what she said if you could see her face and gestures! This is because we *benefit* from integrating the visual and the auditory information in speech: it's easier to HEAR what others say when we can SEE them speak.

2/n Processing of multisensory (eg, audio-visual; AV) information is more accurate, faster, and neurally more efficient compared to unisensory (only A or only V) information. Imagine you're at a noisy party and can't hear your friend properly...
pbs.twimg.com/media/GQ_C_8...

Autistic and neurotypical adults use different neural mechanisms to integrate AV speech, but benefit equally in word recognition 🧠

📜New paper in Autism Research (OA):📜
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... w/
@mrgbcn.bsky.social, @sotarokita.bsky.social, & @mireiatorralba.bsky.social 🙏

Is there a social motion preference in autistic adults? See our poster walk-through for an overview 👇

Yesterday ended a life changing chapter of my career: a
DAAD PRIME Fellowship spanning stages at Dartmouth College, UCL, & Humboldt Uni
🙏to @antoniahamilton.bsky.social, @thaliawheatley.bsky.social
and Isabel Dziobek for hosting my project, and to all my amazing colleagues for making it so great!

Reactivating my bsky after a while with a great excuse:

What a treat to present my first preliminary results from a big study on autistic and neurotypical interactions at the 12th #MindBrainBody Symposium! 🙏

Take-home: Smile synchronisation is important for establishing rapport, autistic or not!🙃🙂