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During interpersonal interactions, conversational moves can help people establishcommon ground ---a shared frame of reference to support communication. Neurodiverse conversation dyads that include autistic and non-autistic members can experience challenges in creating and maintaining such a shared frame of reference due to differing communication and cognitive styles. We conducted a design study to understand conversational patterns among neurodiverse dyads and then used those patterns to co-design concepts for supporting the creation and maintenance of common ground by those conversation pairs. Our study involved two activities with participants: (1) a paired interview with autistic adults and a trusted conversation partner that used a novel swimlane visual elicitation activity, and (2) a remote design study during which the autistic participants designed a game intended to visualize and support neurodiverse conversation dynamics. We found that communication technology can scaffold neurodiverse dyads in locating common ground by supporting crucial individual and joint decision-making; clarification of language and emotions; and embodied sense-making of identity, relationships, and shared information. This project generated insights related to two distinct aspects of designing assistive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to support autistic individuals: (1) the ability for visual elicitation activities to help autistic individuals recognize interaction patterns, gain a deeper understanding of other's perspectives, and imagine more desirable alternatives, and (2) the importance of recognizing and supporting multi-dimensional aspects of communication practices (i.e., social, emotional, sensory) in establishing and maintaining shared points of reference for neurodiverse conversation dyads.
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Deviations from mirroring in interpersonal multifrequency coordination when visual information is occluded.
In activities such as dancing and sports, people synchronize behaviors in many different ways. Synchroni- zation between people has traditionally been characterized as either perfect mirroring (1:1 in-phase synchronization, spontaneous synchrony, and mimicry) or reflectional mir- roring (1:1 antiphase synchronization), but most activities require partners to synchronize more complicated patterns. We asked visually coupled dyads to coordinate finger move- ments to perform multifrequency ratios (1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 5:1). Because these patterns are coordinated across and not just within individual physiological and motor systems, we based our predictions on frequency-locking dynamics, which is a general coordination principle that is not limited to physiological explanations. Twenty dyads performed five multifrequency ratios under three levels of visual coupling, with half using a subcritical visual information update rate. The dynamical principle was supported, such that multi- frequency performance tends to abide by the strictures of frequency locking. However, these constraints are relaxed if the visual information rate is beyond the critical informa- tion update rate. An analysis of turning points in the oscil- latory finger movements suggested that dyads did not rely on this visual information to stabilize coordination. How the laboratory findings align with naturalistic observa- tions of multifrequency performance in actual sports teams (Double Dutch) is discussed. Frequency-locking accounts not only for the human propensity for perfect mirroring but also for variations in performance when dyads deviate from mirroring.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1255922
- PAR ID:
- 10085379
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Experimental brain research
- Volume:
- 235
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1432-1106
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1209-1221
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-4888-5
