According to researchers in Holland, it only takes four seconds of silence in a conversation for participants to feel a sense of rejection. This is useful to know if you’re autistic, because we have trouble understanding non-verbal cues, and sometimes neglect to make proper eye contact or maintain a consistent flow of conversation. Autistics tend to do better with clearly stated rules like ‘say something within 4 seconds’. Morale of the story – keep talking (focus positively on the other person and ask open-ended questions)! Read more about it at Time.