Time perception and autistic spectrum condition: A systematic review.
Autistic people usually handle quick flashes or beeps fine, but struggle when they must judge longer or story-like sequences.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors pulled every paper they could find on how autistic people judge time. They ended up with 45 studies. The team sorted tasks into two bins: simple timing (tap a button every second) and complex timing (tell which of two lights flashed first).
They looked for patterns across decades of work. No new data were collected; they just mapped what was already known.
What they found
Simple timing tasks gave messy results. Some studies said autistic people were worse, some said equal, some said better.
Complex timing tasks told a cleaner story. Autistic people usually scored lower on tasks that required them to think about time passing or to order events.
How this fits with other research
De Meo-Monteil et al. (2019) seems to disagree. Their adults with autism actually beat neurotypical adults on visual-motor timing. The key difference is the task: Rosanna used millisecond-level syncing to a screen, which taps enhanced visual detail skills, not event sequencing.
Laugeson et al. (2014) and Boucher et al. (2007) back the review. Both found that autistic participants struggled when they had to notice tiny duration changes or to think about stories unfolding over time.
Safer-Lichtenstein et al. (2023) adds a twist. Predictive timing cues worked fine for most autistic adults; only the ASD-plus-ADHD group slipped. This supports the review: timing problems show up most when the task piles on extra rules or attention demands.
Why it matters
When you ask a client to wait two minutes before the next activity, you are using complex time sense. If the client seems lost, switch to visual timers or break the interval into smaller, labeled chunks. Save rapid-flash visual cues for discrimination drills; they may actually be a strength.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Problems with timing and time perception have been suggested as key characteristics of autism spectrum condition (ASC). Studies and personal accounts from clinicians, parents, caregivers, and self-reports from autistic people themselves often refer to problems with time. Although a number of empirical studies have examined aspects relating to time in autistic individuals, there remains no clear consensus on whether or how timing mechanisms may be affected in autism. A key reason for this lack of clarity is the wide range of timing processes that exist and subsequently the wide range of methodologies, research paradigms, and samples that time-based studies have used with autism populations. In order to summarize and organize the available literature on this issue, a systematic review was conducted. Five electronic databases were consulted. From an initial 597 records (after duplicates were removed), 45 papers were selected and reviewed. The studies are reviewed within different sections based on the different types of timing ability that have been explored in the neurotypical (NT) population: time sensitivity, interval timing, and higher-order time perception. Within each section cognitive models, methodologies, possible clinical implications, and research results are discussed. The results show different consistency across studies between the three types of timing ability. The highest consistency of results showing atypical time perception abilities is found in high-level time perception studies. It remains unclear if autism is characterized by a fundamental time perception impairment. Suggestions for future research are discussed. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1440-1462. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: This systematic review examines the different types of timing and time perception behavior that have been investigated in autism. Overall, there are a number of studies that show differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals, but some studies do not find such differences. Group differences are more consistent across studies using complex tasks rather than simpler more fundamental timing tasks. We suggest that experiments across a range of timing tasks would be fruitful to address gaps in our knowledge.
, 2019 · doi:10.1002/aur.2170