Abstract

While atypical sensory processing is one of the more ubiquitous symptoms in autism spectrum disorder, the exact nature of these sensory issues remains unclear, with different studies showing either enhanced or deficient sensory processing. Using a well-established continuous cued-recall task that assesses visual working memory, the current study provides novel evidence reconciling these apparently discrepant findings. Autistic children exhibited perceptual advantages in both likelihood of recall and recall precision relative to their typically-developed peers. When autistic children did make errors, however, they showed a higher probability of erroneously binding a given colour with the incorrect spatial location. These data align with neural-architecture models for feature binding in visual working memory, suggesting that atypical population-level neural noise in the report dimension (colour) and cue dimension (spatial location) may drive both the increase in probability of recall and precision of colour recall as well as the increase in proportion of binding errors when making an error, respectively. These changes are likely to impact core symptomatology associated with autism, as perceptual binding and working memory play significant roles in higher-order tasks, such as communication.

Details

Title
Visual working memory and sensory processing in autistic children
Author
Stevenson, Ryan A 1 ; Ruppel, Justin 2 ; Sun, Sol Z 2 ; Segers Magali 3 ; Zapparoli, Busisiwe L 4 ; Bebko, James M 4 ; Barense, Morgan D 5 ; Ferber, Susanne 5 

 University of Western Ontario, Department of Psychology, London, Canada (GRID:grid.39381.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8884); University of Western Ontario, Brain and Mind Institute, London, Canada (GRID:grid.39381.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8884); University of Western Ontario, Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, Canada (GRID:grid.39381.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8884); University of Western Ontario, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Neuroscience Program, London, Canada (GRID:grid.39381.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8884); York University, Centre for Vision Research, Toronto, Canada (GRID:grid.21100.32) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9430) 
 University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada (GRID:grid.17063.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 2157 2938) 
 University of Western Ontario, Department of Psychology, London, Canada (GRID:grid.39381.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8884); York University, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada (GRID:grid.21100.32) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9430) 
 York University, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada (GRID:grid.21100.32) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9430) 
 University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada (GRID:grid.17063.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 2157 2938); Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Canada (GRID:grid.17063.33) (ISNI:0000 0001 2157 2938) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2488174829
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.