Consistently longer silent gaps in autistic speaker pairs across three conversational contexts

Abstract We investigated the timing of turn-taking in matched autistic compared to non-autistic pairs of adult speakers. Turn-taking—the organisation of who speaks when—is the fundamental mechanism of communicative interaction, and has been found to be remarkably fast and robust across different groups of speakers. We build on the only previous study of turn-timing in in matched autistic dyads, while also conducting one of the first within-speaker comparisons of turn-timing across different conversational contexts. We recorded 18 autistic and 28 non-autistic speakers in matched dyads, conversing in three sequential conversational contexts. We analysed 10,251 turn transitions using the measure of Floor Transfer Offset (comprising silent and overlapping transitions). Bayesian inferential modelling was used for statistical analysis. Our results show longer silent gaps 1) in autistic speaker pairs and 2) in the task-based conversational context. The finding of longer silent gaps in autism does not align with the only previous study on conversations between autistic adults. We discuss the importance of investigating naturalistic, face-to-face interaction and question the idea that there is a single, fixed target for conversational turn-timing. We argue that speaker pairs skilfully adjust their turn-taking rhythm to match both interpersonal and situational factors.