Temporal binding of social events less pronounced in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Differences in predictive processing are considered amongst the prime candidates for mechanisms underlying different symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A particularly valuable paradigm to investigate these processes is temporal binding (TB) assessed through time estimation tasks. In this study, we report on two separate experiments using a TB task designed to assess the influence of top-down social information on action event related TB. Both experiments were performed with a group of individuals diagnosed with ASD and a matched group without ASD. The results replicate earlier findings on a pronounced social hyperbinding for social action-event sequences and extend them to persons with ASD. Hyperbinding however, is less pronounced in the group with ASD as compared to the group without ASD. We interpret our results as indicative of a reduced predictive processing during social interaction. This reduction most likely results from differences in the integration of top-down social information into action-event monitoring. We speculate that this corresponds to differences in mentalizing processes in ASD.