Investigating Visual–Tactile Interactions over Time and Space in Adults with Autism

Abstract

It has been suggested that the sensory symptoms which affect many people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) may be related to alterations in multisensory processing. Typically, the likelihood of interactions between the senses increases when information is temporally and spatially coincident. We explored visual-tactile interactions in adults with ASC for the first time in two experiments using low-level stimuli. Both participants with ASC and matched neurotypical controls only produced crossmodal interactions to near simultaneous stimuli, suggesting that temporal modulation is unaffected in the adult population. We also provide preliminary evidence that visual-tactile interactions may occur over greater spatial distances in participants with ASC, which merits further exploration.

Similarities in Autistic and Neurotypical Visual–Haptic Perception When Making Judgements About Conflicting Sensory Stimuli

“…Considering this issue of spatial discrepancy between the cues, it is interesting that participants with ASC and NT adopted a similar strategy in the present study. In a previous study, visual-tactile interactions were observed at a greater spatial discrepancy in ASC (Poole et al, 2015) which could reflect an extended representation of peripersonal space in ASC and suggest that participants with ASC would be more likely to integrate spatially discrepant cues.…”

“…This was motivated primarily by two previous findings in the literature: firstly, NT participants have been shown consistently to integrate visual-haptic information in an optimal manner (Ernst and Banks, 2002;Gori et al, 2008). Secondly, it has been proposed that individuals with ASC may not integrate reliability information in an optimal manner (Lawson et al, 2014;Pellicano and Burr, 2012) and aspects of multisensory processing are disrupted in this group (Poole et al, 2015;Russo et al, 2010). .…”

“…Furthermore, the processing of task irrelevant multisensory stimuli is atypical in ASC. For instance, participants with ASC produce responses which are influenced by task irrelevant stimuli in a different modality to the target which are presented at a greater temporal (Foss-Feig et al, 2010;Kwakye et al, 2011) and spatial disparity (Poole et al, 2015) in comparison to controls.…”

Brief Report: Which Came First? Exploring Crossmodal Temporal Order Judgements and Their Relationship with Sensory Reactivity in Autism and Neurotypicals

“…As visual-auditory temporal acuity is believed to be reduced in ASC, it is interesting that in the present study the effect size was smallest (d = 0.02) for the between group comparison of visual-auditory JNDs. This suggests that temporal acuity is comparable to NTs in some adults with ASC (see de Boer-Schellekens et al 2013; Poole et al 2015 for similar recent findings). As multisensory temporal acuity typically matures across development (Hillock et al 2011; Hillock-Dunn and Wallace 2012) there may be a delay in the maturation of this processing in ASC which may have ‘caught up’ with NT performance by adulthood (see Foxe et al 2015; Taylor et al 2010, for evidence of maturation of visual-auditory speech processing in adolescents with ASC).…”

“…In the tactile-visual condition participant JNDs were a significant predictor of self-reported sensory reactivity, such that those with reduced tactile-visual temporal acuity reported greater sensory reactivity. Reduced tactile-visual temporal acuity could lead to atypical experiences of touch which could impact on higher level processes such as the experience, and use, of inter-personal touch (Poole et al 2015) and in planning movements, particularly involving objects (Gowen and Hamilton 2013). Furthermore, participants who required a greater auditory lead to perceive visual-auditory stimuli as simultaneous reported more atypical sensory reactivity.…”