Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42602050›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2026

Whole-body synchronization in autistic adults.

Tim Schnitzler, Raphael Perla, Christoph W Korn

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Tim Schnitzler *Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Family Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Raphael Perla *Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Family Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
Christoph W KornDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Family Health, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: A characteristic feature of autistic individuals is deviations in nonverbal behavior during social interactions, evident in altered synchronization. In non-autistic individuals, increased synchronization adversely affects the capacity for emotional self-regulation. Yet, synchronization in autistic individuals has primarily been examined in conversational contexts. Methods: In this study, 33 autistic and 33 non-autistic adults performed a dyadic movement task. Participants were asked to "have a conversation without words" using only improvised movements. Using an inertial sensor-based motion capture system, we investigated interpersonal synchronization. Results: Our findings indicated greater synchronization in autistic dyads than in non-autistic dyads. Mixed dyads did not differ from either autistic or non-autistic dyad. Across all three dyad types, the task was not associated with reliable observed changes in emotional self-regulation, positive affect, or negative affect, and baseline-adjusted post-task outcomes were not reliably associated with interpersonal synchronization. However, it is important to note our small sample size, which limits the robustness and generalizability of the results. Discussion: We discuss our findings in relation to the task demands. Whole-body synchronization played a crucial role in our study, unlike in previous studies of conversational settings. Consequently, our task relied less on language, familiarity with social interaction tasks, and eye contact, all of which are aspects that autistic individuals often find challenging. Our findings contribute to the ongoing debate on interpersonal synchronization in autism spectrum condition by extending previous studies on conversational contexts to whole-body movement. The data can be combined with future datasets to create larger samples and provide a more nuanced understanding about synchronization in autism spectrum condition.

Indexed as

affectbody movementinterpersonal synchronizationmotor synchronizationself-regulation

Identifiers

PMID42602050
PMCPMC13473257

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.