Exploring interpersonal synchrony in neurotypical and autistic children using humanoid robots

McGregor, Carly 2025. Exploring interpersonal synchrony in neurotypical and autistic children using humanoid robots. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Interpersonal synchrony is the tendency for social partners to temporally coordinate their behaviour with one another. Among non-autistic individuals, interpersonal synchrony has been demonstrated to have prosocial benefits and influence their understanding of others’ relationships. These social effects are thought to arise through a combination of motor, perceptual, and social skills. However, autistic individuals’ interpersonal synchrony is thought to be reduced in its accuracy and frequency, and they are thought to be less sensitive to its social effects. There is also conflicting evidence regarding whether interpersonal synchrony in human-robot dyads produces similar social effects, as robots often have a limited social presence. To effectively use robots in studies with autistic children, Chapter 2 tested familiarisation techniques for introducing autistic children to robots in a way that promoted participant comfort. Techniques were evaluated in a mixed-methods study by interviewing autistic children’s parents, followed by a laboratory visit in which autistic children were introduced to robots using the familiarisation techniques. To investigate how autistic and non-autistic children compare in the underlying factors that contribute to synchrony, Chapter 3 compared groups’ motor production and synchrony perception skills in the absence of a social context. The study found that groups performed similarly in the motor and perception tasks, indicating that autistic and non-autistic experiential differences with interpersonal synchrony are unlikely to be caused by fundamental differences in how accurately the groups can produce and perceive synchrony. Chapter 4 compared how sensitive autistic and non-autistic children were to the social effects of synchrony when witnessing it in others and experiencing it themselves. Because robots can provide a limited and controlled social presence, synchrony in human-robot pairs was also examined. Results showed that non-autistic children were sensitive to the social effects of synchrony when witnessing human-human and human-robot pairs, while autistic children were not. However, autistic children were sensitive to the social effects of synchronising with a robot themselves, but non-autistic children were not. In summary, this thesis compared the ways in which autistic and non-autistic individuals experience factors underlying interpersonal synchrony and investigated whether the social effects of interpersonal synchrony can also be found when witnessing or interacting with robots.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 August 2025
Last Modified:	27 Aug 2025 09:52
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180678

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