Post published on Twitter/X on 10 Dec 2021 10:14

Abstract

Abstract Bayesian models of autism suggest that disruptions in context-sensitive prediction error weighting may underpin sensory perceptual alterations, such as hypersensitivities. We used an auditory oddball paradigm with pure tones arising from high or low uncertainity contexts to determine whether autistic individuals display differences in context adjustment relative to neurotypicals. We did not find group differences in early prediction error responses indexed by mismatch negativity. However, the autism group had larger evoked responses to outliers, at 300ms latency suggesting a greater reorienting of attention to surprising sounds. A dimensional approach revealed a positive correlation between context-dependent prediction errors and auditory sensitivities, but not with autistic traits. These findings suggest that autism studies may benefit from accounting for sensory sensitivities in group comparisons. Lay Summary We find no differences in brain responses (EEG amplitudes) between autistic and neurotypical adults when listening to two contexts of tone patterns. However, we find a larger difference in the EEG amplitude when shifting between low to high uncertainity streams of tones, as sensory sensitivities (but not autistic traits) increase. These findings show that perceptual alterations maybe a function of sensory sensitivities, but not necessarily autistic traits. We suggest that future EEG studies in autism may benefit from accounting for sensory sensitivities.