We objectively quantified the neural sensitivity of school-aged boys with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to detect briefly presented fearful expressions by combining fast periodic visual stimulation with frequency-tagging electroencephalography. Images of neutral faces were presented at 6 Hz, periodically interleaved with fearful expressions at 1.2 Hz oddball rate. While both groups equally display the face inversion effect and mainly rely on information from the mouth to detect fearful expressions, boys with ASD generally show reduced neural responses to rapid changes in expression. At an individual level, fear discrimination responses predict clinical status with an 83% accuracy. This implicit and straightforward approach identifies subtle deficits that remain concealed in behavioral tasks, thereby opening new perspectives for clinical diagnosis.
The human brain is constantly bombarded with both external and internal sensory stimulation.Efficient registration and modulation of this sensory stimulation allows us to adapt our behavior to the continuous changes in the environment which is fundamental to human cognition. Acquired brain injury can affect sensory processing resulting in an atypical response to sensory stimulation
The purpose of this study was to provide normative data for a Flemish version of the Buschke Selective Reminding Test (SRT). The SRT allows for the simultaneous analysis of several components of verbal memory, such as short and long term retrieval. The Flemish SRT was administered to 3257 neurologically healthy adults (1627 men and 1630 women, age range = 18–94 years). Effects of age, sex and education on SRT performance were assessed. Results indicate that SRT performance decreased with age and that this decline accelerated in men compared to women. Furthermore, an effect of education was found favoring participants who completed a higher education. Normative data quantified through percentile ranks and stratified by age, sex and education level are provided.
Ward (this issue) proposes a signal detection framework to explore sensory sensitivity across different conditions and links it to the predictive coding theory. More generally, however, perception is determined not only by sensory input and by prediction or prior knowledge, but also by behavioral relevance. We argue that selective attention, the process that allows us to prioritize the processing of behaviorally relevant over irrelevant information, should be taken into account when considering individual differences in sensory sensitivity. ARTICLE HISTORYABSTRACT Ward (this issue) proposes four (non-mutuallyexclusive) theories for how sensory sensitivity, as commonly seen in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, may be linked to atypical neural responses to sensory stimuli. As presently laid out, these theories do not fully account for the complexity and heterogeneity of neural responses to sensory information seen in autism. We describe the important role of attention and regulation in atypical neural and behavioral responses to sensory stimuli, and how these higherorder functions might fit into some of the proposed theories. ARTICLE HISTORY
Objective Visual attention helps us to selectively process relevant information and is crucial in our everyday interactions with the environment. Not surprisingly, it is one of the cognitive domains that is most frequently affected by acquired brain injury. Reliable assessment of attention deficits is pivotal to neuropsychological examination and helps to optimize individual rehabilitation plans. Compared with conventional pen-and-paper tests, computerized tasks borrowed from the field of experimental psychology bring many benefits, but lab-based experimental setups cannot be easily incorporated in clinical practice. Light-weight and portable mobile tablet devices may facilitate the translation of computerized tasks to clinical settings. One such task is based on the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), a mathematical model of visual attention. TVA-based paradigms have been widely used to investigate several aspects of visual attention in both fundamental and clinical research, and include measures for general processing capacity as well as stimulus-specific attentional parameters. Methods This article discusses the benefits of TVA-based assessments compared with frequently used neuropsychological tests of visual attention, and examines the reliability of a tablet-based TVA-based assessment in 59 neurologically healthy participants. Results Pearson’s correlations indicate that the tablet-based TVA assessment and the conventional lab-based TVA assessment have a comparable parallel-form (range: .67–.93), test–retest (range: .61–.78), and internal reliability (range: .56–.97). Conclusion Our results suggest that tablet-based TVA assessment may be a promising tool to acquire clinical measures of visual attention at low cost at the bedside of the patient.
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