Recognition of Action Vitality Forms is Linked to Social Communication Traits in Autism

Vitality Forms (VFs) capture the essence of human movement, revealing how we engage in actions. Perceiving and expressing VFs are crucial for social communication, allowing us to understand the behavior of others. Despite their pervasiveness in our life, research on VFs in autism is limited. The present study aims to investigate the perception of different VFs in children presenting an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) in comparison to neurotypical children (NT). Both groups observed pre-recorded actions with different VFs previously performed by the same ASC and NT children. After the observation of each action, children judged their VFs using a four-point Likert scale. Our results highlight three key findings: (1) ASC children recognized VFs, but with significantly lower accuracy (57.2%) than NT children (70%); (2) ASC children took longer to recognize VFs (1751ms) compared to NT children (1323ms); (3) these differences correlated with the ADOS Social Affect score in ASC children. The slower and less accurate VFs recognition in ASC suggests a potential delay in understanding VFs, possibly due to a different processing of visual cues like speed or acceleration. Overall, this study contributes to shed light on how VFs impact social communication in autistic children, informing future interventions and support.