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Links between multisensory processing and autism

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Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder is typically associated with social deficits and is often specifically linked to difficulty with processing faces and other socially relevant stimuli. Emerging research has suggested that children with autism might also have deficits in basic perceptual abilities including multisensory processing (e.g., simultaneously processing visual and auditory inputs). The current study examined the relationship between multisensory temporal processing (assessed via a simultaneity judgment task wherein participants were to report whether a visual stimulus and an auditory stimulus occurred at the same time or at different times) and self-reported symptoms of autism (assessed via the Autism Spectrum Quotient questionnaire). Data from over 100 healthy adults revealed a relationship between these two factors as multisensory timing perception correlated with symptoms of autism. Specifically, a stronger bias to perceive auditory stimuli occurring before visual stimuli as simultaneous was associated with greater levels of autistic symptoms. Additional data and analyses confirm that this relationship is specific to multisensory processing and symptoms of autism. These results provide insight into the nature of multisensory processing while also revealing a continuum over which perceptual abilities correlate with symptoms of autism and that this continuum is not just specific to clinical populations but is present within the general population.

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Notes

  1. We define ‘low-level’ visual processes as the basic, first steps of perception such as discriminating the orientation of visual stimuli or determining the frequency of an auditory sound, and ‘high-level’ processing as the identification of a face or speech, or any complex object consisting of multiple types of ‘low-level’ stimuli.

  2. No data were removed from this correlation as outliers since data were already removed from participants who had a PSS outside the range of SOAs tested (i.e., those who were unable/refused to do the task). As seen in Fig. 2a, one participant scored low on the ASQ. However, with this data point removed, the correlation is still highly significant (R = −0.26, p = 0.008).

  3. The alpha level necessary to reach significance here is 0.025 via Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons since two different analyses are being run on both the near and the far data.

  4. There were several other assessments obtained from our participants in their first visit; however, we are only analyzing (and reporting here) the tests conducted based on a priori predictions about the relationships between video game play, ADHD, and multisensory processing.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Matthew S. Cain for assistance with data analysis and helpful comments on this manuscript, Kait Clark for assistance with the visual–visual temporal-order judgment task, and Matthew Forester, Edward Liu, and Sylvia Nantier for assistance with data acquisition. This work was supported by a National Science Graduate Research Fellowship award to S.E.D. and was partially supported by the Army Research Office (#54528LS) and partially through a subcontract with the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions, a research consortium sponsored by the Human Factors Division in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This material is based upon work supported by the DHS under Contract No. HSHQDC-08-C-00100. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of DHS or of the US Government. The study is approved for public release.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Box 90999, LSRC, Durham, NC, USA

    Sarah E. Donohue, Elise F. Darling & Stephen R. Mitroff

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Sarah E. Donohue

  3. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Elise F. Darling & Stephen R. Mitroff

Authors
  1. Sarah E. Donohue
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  2. Elise F. Darling
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  3. Stephen R. Mitroff
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Correspondence to Sarah E. Donohue.

Appendix for Donohue, Darling, and Mitroff

Appendix for Donohue, Darling, and Mitroff

The Duke Visual Cognition Laboratory administers a ‘battery’ of individual differences assessments as part of an experimental protocol to understand how cognitive abilities vary across participants. Below we provide the self-report questionnaires that were administered at the time of testing for this study’s participants.

Self-report questionnaires examined for the current study

  • Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ; Baron-Cohen et al. 2001)

  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; Jasper and Goldberg 1993)

  • Video game playing questionnaire (designed in laboratory)

Questionnaires administered to participants but not examined for the current study

  • Race/Ethnicity

  • Society Works Best (Smith et al. 2011)

  • Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAPQ; Marian et al. 2007)

  • General pastimes questionnaire (designed in laboratory)

  • Maximization scale (Schwartz et al. 2002)

  • Eating Attitudes Test (EAT; Garner and Garfinkel 1979)

  • Media Multitasking questionnaire (MMI; Ophir et al. 2009), 101 participants

  • Wilson and Patterson (1968)

  • Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (EHI; Oldfield 1971)

  • Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al. 1988)

  • NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa and McCrae 1992)

  • Religious Beliefs (designed in laboratory)

  • Trait Anxiety (Taken from State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; Spielberger et al. 1983)

  • Regulatory Focus (Higgins et al. 2001)

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Donohue, S.E., Darling, E.F. & Mitroff, S.R. Links between multisensory processing and autism. Exp Brain Res 222, 377–387 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-012-3223-4

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