Multisensory integration deficits in Schizophrenia and Autism evidenced in behaviour but not event related potentials

Abstract

The process of integrating information from different sensory channels, known as multisensory integration (MSI) was assessed in two disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Schizophrenia (SCZ). 32 healthy controls (HC), 35 SCZ patients, and 23 ASD patients performed an audiovisual (AV) synchronous target detection task while reaction time (RT) and scalp recorded electrophysiological (EEG) activity were measured. MSI in the AV condition resulted in faster and less variable RTs compared to the unimodal conditions. Using our novel bootstrap method, MSI gain was observed in 78 % of HC, 26 % of ASD, and 48 % of SCZ patients. At the neural level, MSI in the AV condition resulted in larger amplitude of sensory evoked responses and cognitive P3 response compared to the corresponding unimodal conditions. These neural effects of MSI were not related to the behavioural MSI gain identified at the individual level and could not explain the deficits in behavioural MSI of patient groups. In conclusion, a robust MSI gain deficit in RT was observed in both patient groups that was not reflected in early perceptual and cognitive electro-cortical responses, suggesting that behavioural MSI deficits in ASD and SCZ may arise at late processing stages such as response selection.