Abstract
Despite its popularity, the construct of biological motion (BM) and its putative anomalies in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are not completely clarified. In this article, we present a meta-analysis investigating the putative anomalies of BM perception in ASD. Through a systematic literature search, we found 30 studies that investigated BM perception in both ASD and typical developing peers by using point-light display stimuli. A general meta-analysis including all these studies showed a moderate deficit of individuals with ASD in BM processing, but also a high heterogeneity. This heterogeneity was explored in different additional meta-analyses where studies were grouped according to levels of complexity of the BM task employed (first-order, direct and instrumental), and according to the manipulation of low-level perceptual features (spatial vs. temporal) of the control stimuli. Results suggest that the most severe deficit in ASD is evident when perception of BM is serving a secondary purpose (e.g., inferring intentionality/action/emotion) and, interestingly, that temporal dynamics of stimuli are an important factor in determining BM processing anomalies in ASD. Our results question the traditional understanding of BM anomalies in ASD as a monolithic deficit and suggest a paradigm shift that deconstructs BM into distinct levels of processing and specific spatio-temporal subcomponents.
Highlights
Our brain is constantly facing a plethora of sensory stimuli that need to be properly sampled and organized to construct a meaningful perceptual experience
The analysis including all papers contrasting the processing of biological motion (BM) in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) vs. typical developing (TD) revealed a medium effect of the difference in performance between the two groups, Cohen’s d = 0.60, SE = 0.13, CI 95% = [0.36, 0.85], z = 4.77, p < 0.0001
Despite some of our analyses are probably influenced by the limited sample of studies available and by the high heterogeneity of participants’ characteristics, we made an effort toward interpreting the multifaceted aspects of the vast literature that uses BM as a proxy for social perception deficits in ASD
Summary
Our brain is constantly facing a plethora of sensory stimuli that need to be properly sampled and organized to construct a meaningful perceptual experience. Following the first report of BM impairment in ASD51, the number of studies investigating this question has constantly increased over the years (see Fig. S1 in Supplementary Information) Factors such as heterogeneous experimental designs, weak understanding of potential confounds and inconsistency among the classes of information conveyed by BM may impact on the results reliability. A convincing argument in favor of the hypothesis that BM processing is largely independent of experience was provided by a study testing the ability of newborns to discriminate BM stimuli[4]. Spared abilities in the processing of BM after early visual deprivation are surprising in light of the data reporting impairments in similar cohorts of patients both in global motion[60] and in holistic face processing[61,62]
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