Editorial: Sensory processing in autism: mechanisms, impacts and interventions

Authors

Abstract

Within this broad domain, sensory hypersensitivity deserves particular attention. Rather than being regarded as a peripheral feature accompanying the "core" characteristics of autism, hypersensitivity may interact with emotional and behavioral regulation, attention, executive functioning, motor behavior, and social engagement. Indeed, sensory alterations identified early in development have been shown to be strongly associated with subsequent emotional and behavioral difficulties, further supporting the functional relevance of sensory processing beyond the sensory domain itself (3).Understanding sensory processing may therefore provide an important window into how autistic individuals experience and navigate their environments.First-person accounts provide a particularly compelling perspective on the intensity of sensory hypersensitivity, illustrating how sounds that may appear ordinary to others can be experienced as physically painful and profoundly threatening. As described in Thinking in Pictures: "When I was little, loud noises were a problem, often feeling like a dentist drill hitting a nerve. They also caused pain. I was scared to death of balloons popping because the sound was like an explosion in my ear" (4). Such first-person experiences underscore why sensory over-sensitivity should not be treated as a secondary or incidental aspect of autism, but as a major research priority with direct implications for well-being, participation, and quality of life. This Research Topic emerged from this premise. In their Opinion article, Narzisi et al. Sensory processing in autism: a call for research and action highlighted the striking discrepancy between the impact of sensory sensitivities on autistic people's lives and the attention devoted to them in research.They called for objective and developmentally informed assessment, investigation of underlying mechanisms, greater involvement of autistic people and families, and interventions and environmental adaptations capable of reducing the burden associated with sensory hypersensitivity.The contributions collected in this Research Topic approach this challenge from complementary developmental, behavioral, physiological, neurobiological, and interventional perspectives.Several contributions emphasize that there is no single or static "autistic sensory profile." Previous work in school-aged autistic children has similarly highlighted substantial heterogeneity across sensory domains, with sensory characteristics varying in relation to cognitive functioning and differing particularly in hearing, social participation, and balance and motion (5). Extending this developmental perspective, Marani et al., examining sensory characteristics from 16 months to 14 years, identified adaptive functioning as an important correlate of sensory profiles and described a non-linear association with age. Extending this perspective by considering developmental change, Marani et al. examining sensory characteristics from 16 months to 14 years, identified adaptive functioning as an important correlate of sensory profiles and described a non-linear association with age. Their findings suggest a predominance of sensory seeking and auditory processing challenges during the preschool period, followed by a shift toward hypersensitivity and avoidance, particularly in visual and oral modalities, between 8 and 12 years. These results reinforce the importance of longitudinal approaches capable of capturing sensory development rather than treating sensory characteristics as stable traits.The systematic review by Ríos Llamas et al. places hypersensitivity itself at the center of the discussion. Reviewing light and sound hypersensitivity, the authors found a literature dominated by auditory research, with evidence of reduced habituation, impaired sensory gating, and increased sensitivity to sounds, while visual hypersensitivity remains comparatively understudied. Their review also identifies a major representational gap: children and males predominate, whereas autistic females and adults remain substantially underrepresented. Future sensory research must therefore embrace a lifespan perspective and address gender imbalance while increasing ecological validity.An equally important challenge concerns how sensory processing should be measured. Chounan and Suzuki found clear differences between autistic and typically developing adolescents in caregiverreported sensory characteristics but no significant group difference in active-touch texture/material matching. Objective tactile performance was also not consistently associated with caregiver-reported sensory reactivity. This apparent discrepancy is informative: everyday hypersensitivity may not be reducible to elementary perceptual and active exploration may allow individuals to regulate sensory input in ways that are not possible when sensory events are unpredictable or Importantly, sensory processing does not operate in isolation. Ji et al. found that components of executive functioning, particularly emotional and behavioral regulation, mediated associations between sensory processing patterns and social responsiveness. These findings invite a more integrated interpretation of autistic behavior: difficulties observed in social situations may sometimes be influenced by the regulatory demands imposed by sensory environments. Consistent with the broader functional impact of sensory processing, Zhang et al. showed that sensory sensitivity and avoidance, together with social-behavioral factors, uniquely predicted parental caregiving burden.Sensory difficulties therefore extend beyond the individual, affecting family functioning and caregiver well-being.The relationship between sensory processing and everyday functioning is particularly evident in feeding. Riccio et al.

1. Caroline E. Robertson , S. Baron-Cohen (2017). Sensory perception in autism . Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18(11), 671-684. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.

   Type: Article DOI: 10.1038/nrn.2017.112 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2758053316

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2. Antonio Narzisi , Rosy Muccio , Pamela Fantozzi , Elena Valente , Greta Tolomei , Stefano Berloffa et al. (2026). What Kanner saw but did not name: Sensory atypicalities in autism from 1943 to today . Spanish J Psychiatry Ment Health, 7. Elsevier BV.

   Type: Article DOI: 10.1016/j.sjpmh.2026.07.003 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W7211913157

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3. Antonio Narzisi , Maddalena Fabbri-Destro , Giulia Crifaci , Stefano Scatigna , Federica Maugeri , Stefano Berloffa et al. (2022). Sensory profiles in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder: A descriptive study using the sensory processing measure-2 (SPM-2) . J Clin Med, 11(6), 1668. MDPI AG.

   Type: Article DOI: 10.3390/jcm11061668 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4221027678

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4. Maddalena Fabbri-Destro , Federica Maugeri , Carolina Ianni , Sofia Corsini , Erica Di Stefano , Stefano Scatigna et al. (2022). Early sensory profile in autism spectrum disorders predicts emotional and behavioral issues . J Pers Med, 12(10), 1593. MDPI AG.

   Type: Article DOI: 10.3390/jpm12101593 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4297541825

   Crossref OpenAlex
5. Grandin (1995). Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism . Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism, 63.

   Type: Other

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