Neurodivergent intersubjectivity: Distinctive features of how autistic people create shared understanding.
Brett Heasman, Alex Gillespie
PMID 30073872WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults playing video games together often shifted topics and assumed shared cultural references.
These moves could fragment conversation, but also build humour and rapport quickly. Apparent miscoordination may be a different way of relating.
Key findings
01Autistic-to-autistic video game conversations showed rapid shifts between aligned and fragmented turns, and coherence, affect and symmetry did not always move together.
02Two features emerged as potentially pervasive and consequential in explaining these patterns: a generous assumption of common ground and a low demand for coordination.
03Small misunderstandings, ignored turns, parallel dialogue and misinterpretations were often not problematic because participants demonstrated a low coordination threshold and moved on quickly.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was not representative of autistic people because it included 30 members of one charity, 25 males and 5 females, aged 16 to 34 years, and excluded people with significant verbal comprehension or intellectual challenges. The study analysed only observable language during video game play, so it did not capture silences, non-verbal communication, or other social contexts. The findings depend on the researchers' coding choices, including their definitions of coherence, affect and symmetry and the use of a 20-turn moving average. There was no comparison with neurotypical or other neurodivergent groups, so these features cannot be said to be specific to autism.
Declared interests
The work was supported by a PhD studentship from the Economic and Social Research Council, grant ES/J500070/1.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that video games improve autistic social communication or that this coding method creates better conversation. The study described naturally occurring interactions and identified patterns, not treatment effects.