Abstract
This study examined the effect of increasing visual perceptual load on auditory awareness for social and non-social stimuli in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 63) and typically developing (TD, n = 62) adolescents. Using an inattentional deafness paradigm, a socially meaningful (‘Hi’) or a non-social (neutral tone) critical stimulus (CS) was unexpectedly presented under high and low load. For the social CS both groups continued to show high awareness rates as load increased. Awareness rates for the non-social stimulus were reduced when load increased for the TD, but not the ASD group. The findings indicate enhanced capacity for non-social stimuli in ASD compared to TD, and a special attentional status for social stimuli in the TD group.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an early-onset neurodevelopmental condition that is associated with difficulties in social interaction and communication, the presence of restricted, repetitive and stereotypic behaviours and interests, and atypical sensory processing (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association 2013)
For reaction time (RT), there was a significant effect of condition, with faster RTs in the low (M = 551.63, SD = 159.14, 95%CI [509.01; 594.25]) compared to the high perceptual load condition (M = 827.97, SD = 200.74, 95%CI [774.71; 881.24], p = 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.52; see Supplementary Table 1 for full results)
This study demonstrated that the effect of visual perceptual load on auditory awareness in individuals with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) controls differed according to the type of auditory stimulus presented
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an early-onset neurodevelopmental condition that is associated with difficulties in social interaction and communication, the presence of restricted, repetitive and stereotypic behaviours and interests, and atypical sensory processing (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association 2013). A network of cortical and subcortical structures specialised in the processing of socially-relevant stimuli including eye gaze, faces, speech and biological motion (Pelphrey et al 2011; Dawson et al 2012; Annaz et al 2012). These alterations are thought to affect a range of processes early on in development, including reduced attention to social stimuli, which in turn restrict the child’s exposure to typical social interactions and affecting subsequent social development (Dawson et al 2004; Swettenham et al 1998; Annaz et al 2012). Infants at high familial risk for ASD who go on to develop ASD later in life are less likely to orient to their name at 12 months of age (Zwaigenbaum et al 2005; Nadig et al 2007; Miller et al 2017), and a preference for speech sounds at this age in high-risk infants is associated with fewer autistic-like behaviours at 18 months (Curtin and Vouloumanos 2013)
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