Movement kinematics provide crucial information about people’s intentions and play a fundamental role in dyadic interactions, helping co-agents decode each other’s action goals. In autism, motor execution and action decoding have been shown to differ from typical development, consequently impacting motor interactions. In this study, we computed each participant’s kinematic profile to quantify inter-individual motor distance (i.e., motor dissimilarities). To this end, we implemented a time-constrained pointing task in which we recorded kinematic features from 13 individuals with autism and 37 typical individuals. In each trial, two circles were presented randomly on the screen. Participants were required to first touch one circle and immediately afterwards the other one only when it became completely coloured. Successful task performance required synchronising one’s movements with the velocity at which the second circle filled in. The kinematic profile of each participant was compared to quantify the magnitude of motor differences within and between groups. Furthermore, we used the Procrustes transformation to compute motor distance between participants and used these values to create couples with manipulated levels of motor similarity. These pairs will then engage in a subsequent joint task to explore how motor distance affects their ability to coordinate in a dyadic activity.
ACT2: Exploring kinematic profiles in autism / Passeri, A., Ferrari, E., Maronati, C., Monti, M., Ferrazzi, G., Iarrobino, I., Manuello, J., Patarini, F., Gambosi, B., Trimarco, E., Blandolino, G., Buda, C., Rinaldini, G., Scaliti, E., Giuberti, V., Iani, C., Rubichi, S., Toppi, J., Astolfi, L., Ciaramidaro, A., et al.. - (2026). (8th European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Meeting (ESCAN 2026) Roma ).
ACT2: Exploring kinematic profiles in autism
F. Patarini;B. Gambosi;E. Trimarco;G. Blandolino;C. Buda;G. Rinaldini;J. Toppi;L. Astolfi;
2026
Abstract
Movement kinematics provide crucial information about people’s intentions and play a fundamental role in dyadic interactions, helping co-agents decode each other’s action goals. In autism, motor execution and action decoding have been shown to differ from typical development, consequently impacting motor interactions. In this study, we computed each participant’s kinematic profile to quantify inter-individual motor distance (i.e., motor dissimilarities). To this end, we implemented a time-constrained pointing task in which we recorded kinematic features from 13 individuals with autism and 37 typical individuals. In each trial, two circles were presented randomly on the screen. Participants were required to first touch one circle and immediately afterwards the other one only when it became completely coloured. Successful task performance required synchronising one’s movements with the velocity at which the second circle filled in. The kinematic profile of each participant was compared to quantify the magnitude of motor differences within and between groups. Furthermore, we used the Procrustes transformation to compute motor distance between participants and used these values to create couples with manipulated levels of motor similarity. These pairs will then engage in a subsequent joint task to explore how motor distance affects their ability to coordinate in a dyadic activity.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
