When we observe other people performing actions, we use their movements to help us understand and predict what they are doing. In this study, using an occlusion paradigm autistic and non-autistic adults predicted the pace of unfolding everyday actions. We found that autistic compared to non-autistic adults were slightly less accurate at predicting other people’s actions. This pattern appeared to be due to the autistic group confusing actions that had been moved too far behind with in time actions, suggesting delayed or slower simulation processes. This study contributes to clarify the different ways in which social understanding can be affected in autism-spectrum-disorders.
doi: 10.1002/aur.2716