# Rhythm, social information, and conversational entrainment in autism

> **NIH NIH R21** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $265,243

## Abstract

Rhythm and timing are critical to successful social interactions as rhythm sensitivity enables us to form
predictions and adapt and coordinate our behavior with each other. This is particularly evident during spoken
communication such as through the occurrence of conversational entrainment (or convergence), in which
interlocutors temporally adapt their speech patterns to those of their partner. We recently demonstrated links
between rhythm and speech entrainment by adapting a novel and automated beat-tracking algorithm, originally
designed for use with musical rhythms, to speech in order to reveal the underlying metrical timing of spoken
utterances. We observed that typically developing adults converge their speech rhythms during spontaneous
conversation, suggesting an underlying rhythm mechanism that is present in spoken communication. This
conversational entrainment process occurs automatically but is also moderated by social factors: Greater
conversational entrainment occurs between dyads with higher versus lower social agreement throughout the
interaction. These results, which suggest that both underlying rhythm processing and situational social factors
contribute to interpersonal communication, inform mechanisms of social communication in typical development,
as well as disruptions in social communication in autism (ASD). A common and lifelong disorder, individuals on
the autism spectrum exhibit challenges in rhythm and timing of social communication and interaction including
reduced interpersonal coordination. Individuals on the autism spectrum also exhibit impairments in non-social
rhythm skills, with particular difficulties perceiving and synchronizing motor movements to a regular auditory
beat. Building on our prior work, the current project proposes that impairments in flexibly tracking and updating
rhythmic behavior underlies challenges across sensorimotor and social communication domains in autism. This
R21 study investigates underlying processes and outcomes of conversational entrainment in adults with and
without autism including the relationship between sensorimotor synchronization and conversational entrainment
(Aim 1), adaptation to dynamic social factors as a moderator of conversational entrainment (Aim 2), and
conversational entrainment as a predictor of social affiliation (Aim 3). In accordance with PA-21-200, this project
advances research into the role of sensory, motor, and social factors in social interactions and communication
in autism. Results will inform theories of communication impairment focused on specific rhythmic processes as
an underlying mechanism disrupted in autism and demonstrate how individual and dyadic attributes contribute
to social communication success.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10889791
- **Project number:** 1R21DC021254-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Miriam Lense
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $265,243
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-03-01 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10889791

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10889791, Rhythm, social information, and conversational entrainment in autism (1R21DC021254-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10889791. Licensed CC0.

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