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Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research

Intact priors for gaze direction in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum conditions

Authors: Philip J. Pell, Isabelle Mareschal, Andrew J. Calder, Elisabeth A. H. von dem Hagen, Colin W.G. Clifford, Simon Baron-Cohen, Michael P. Ewbank

Published in: Molecular Autism | Issue 1/2016

Abstract

Background

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) are associated with a range of perceptual atypicalities, including abnormalities in gaze processing. Pellicano and Burr (Trends Cogn Sci 16(10):504-10, 2012) have argued that these atypicalities might be explained within a Bayesian framework, in which perception represents the combination of sensory information with prior knowledge. They propose that the Bayesian priors of individuals with ASC might be attenuated, such that their perception is less reliant on prior knowledge than neurotypical individuals. An important tenet of Bayesian decision theory is that increased uncertainty about incoming sensory information will lead to a greater influence of the prior on perception. Consistent with this, Mareschal et al. (Curr Biol 23(8):717-21, 2013) showed that when noise is added to the eyes of a face (increasing uncertainty about gaze direction), gaze is more likely to be perceived as direct.

Methods

We adopted the same paradigm as Mareschal et al. to determine whether the influence of a prior on gaze perception is reduced in neurotypical participants with high numbers of autistic traits (experiment 1) and in individuals with a clinical diagnosis of ASC (experiment 2). Participants were presented with synthetic faces and asked to make a judgement about the relative gaze directions of the faces. Uncertainty about gaze direction was manipulated by adding noise to the eyes of a face.

Results

Consistent with previous work, in both experiment 1 and experiment 2, participants showed a bias towards perceiving gaze as direct under conditions of uncertainty. However, there was no evidence that the magnitude of this bias was reduced either in the ASC group or in neurotypical controls with a high number of autistic traits.

Conclusions

Our findings challenge the attenuated priors theory of perception in ASC (Trends Cogn Sci 16(10):504-10, 2012) and related proposals (Trends Cogn Sci 17(1):1, 2013, Front Hum Neurosci 8:302, 2014), and suggest priors for gaze direction are intact in high-functioning ASC.

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Title: Intact priors for gaze direction in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum conditions
Authors: Philip J. Pell
Isabelle Mareschal
Andrew J. Calder
Elisabeth A. H. von dem Hagen
Colin W.G. Clifford
Simon Baron-Cohen
Michael P. Ewbank
Publication date: 01-12-2016
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: Molecular Autism / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 2040-2392
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-016-0085-9

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Intact priors for gaze direction in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum conditions

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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