Predictive Processing in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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2017-08-24

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en

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Abstract

The present study investigated a recently proposed theory of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in a previously untested age range. The theory puts ASD in a predictive processing framework, posing that individuals with ASD show impairments in predictive processing. Namely, individuals with ASD rely less on prior expectations and more on immediate sensory input, resulting in a more veridical perception. This theory was tested in an adolescent population with ASD and typically developing controls using two tasks: An adaptation task aimed at assessing differences in perception biased by expectation, using a behavioral eye gaze classification task. An action prediction task aimed at assessing the ability to make predictions about others’ everyday actions, using neurophysiological and eye tracking data. Results of the adaptation task clearly show a more veridical perception in the ASD compared to the control group. Some eye tracking results from the action prediction task also speak for differences in the ability to make predictions but neurophysiological results did not show such a difference. Although some serious limitations were identified, these findings provide valuable evidence for the predictive processing accounts of ASD by extending the previously tested age range

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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen