Alternative Bayesian accounts of autistic perception: comment on Pellicano and Burr

Brock, Jon

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.10.005

Cited by 141 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The former are more likely to mediate an influence of contextual information on perception. We can therefore speculate that the group differences observed in the present study reflect individual variation in the expected levels of sensory precision (Friston et al, 2013;Hohwy, in press;Paton et al, 2012; see also Brock, 2012;Pellicano & Burr, 2012). In particular, the greater tendency of the low AQ group to draw on the illusory context to estimate arm position, as suggested by greater proprioceptive drift when the distance between the real and rubber arms was increased in the synchronous stimulation condition, may reflect an expectation for low precision of bottom-up sensory (proprioceptive) estimates within the unusual context of the illusion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Frith, 1989;Happé & U. Frith, 2006), is the neurocognitive distinction between the contribution of bottom-up sensory processing to perception (relating most directly to sensory input) and the top-down modulation of input based on endogenous factors such as prior knowledge and attention (C. Frith & Dolan, 1997;Gilbert & Sigman, 2007;Kveraga, Ghuman, & Bar, 2007). More recent Bayesian accounts develop this point in relation to ASD explicitly: for example, Pellicano and Burr (2012) suggest that prior expectations regarding the state of the world may have diminished influence on perception in ASD, increasing reliance on bottom-up signals (for discussion and related proposals, see Brock, 2012;Friston et al, 2013;Hohwy, in press;Mitchell & Ropar, 2004;Paton et al, 2012;van Boxtel & Lu, 2013). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Movement under uncertainty: The effects of the rubber-hand illusion vary along the nonclinical autism spectrum

et al. 2013

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Recent research has begun to investigate sensory processing in relation to nonclinical variation in traits associated with the autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We propose that existing accounts of autistic perception can be augmented by considering a role for individual differences in top-down expectations for the precision of sensory input, related to the processing of state-dependent levels of uncertainty. We therefore examined ASD-like traits in relation to the rubber-hand illusion: an experimental paradigm that typically elicits crossmodal integration of visual, tactile, and proprioceptive information in an unusual illusory context. Individuals with higher ASD-like traits showed reduced effects of the rubber-hand illusion on perceived arm position and reach-to-grasp movements, compared to individuals with lower ASDlike traits. These differences occurred despite both groups reporting the typical subjective experience of the illusion concerning visuotactile integration and ownership for the rubber hand. Together these results suggest that the integration of proprioceptive information with cues for arm position derived from the illusory context differs between individuals partly in relation to traits associated with ASD.We suggest that the observed differences in sensory integration can be best explained in terms of differing expectations regarding the precision of sensory estimates in contexts that suggest uncertainty.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement under uncertainty: The effects of the rubber-hand illusion vary along the nonclinical autism spectrum

et al. 2013

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“…[31,49]). That the typical perceptual effects of the RHI were exhibited by the ASD group thus suggests that individuals with ASD are able to learn informative priors but differ instead in the relative weighting of priors against conflicting sensory signals (see [9,12,13] for discussion). This is consistent with the mixed evidence on visual illusions in ASD, which tends to suggest that prior information influences visual perception in ASD but to a lesser extent than controls [50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context sensitivity in action decreases along the autism spectrum: a predictive processing perspective

et al. 2015

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Recent predictive processing accounts of perception and action point towards a key challenge for the nervous system in dynamically optimizing the balance between incoming sensory information and existing expectations regarding the state of the environment. Here, we report differences in the influence of the preceding sensory context on motor function, varying with respect to both clinical and subclinical features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reach-to-grasp movements were recorded subsequent to an inactive period in which illusory ownership of a prosthetic limb was induced. We analysed the sub-components of reach trajectories derived using a minimum-jerk fitting procedure. Non-clinical adults low in autistic features showed disrupted movement execution following the illusion compared to a control condition. By contrast, individuals higher in autistic features (both those with ASD and non-clinical individuals high in autistic traits) showed reduced sensitivity to the presence of the illusion in their reaching movements while still exhibiting the typical perceptual effects of the illusion. Clinical individuals were distinct from non-clinical individuals scoring high in autistic features, however, in the early stages of movement. These results suggest that the influence of high-level representations of the environment differs between individuals, contributing to clinical and subclinical differences in motor performance that manifest in a contextual manner. As high-level representations of context help to explain fluctuations in sensory input over relatively longer time scales, more circumscribed sensitivity to prior or contextual information in autistic sensory processing could contribute more generally to reduced social comprehension, sensory impairments and a stronger desire for predictability and routine.

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“…In fact, it has been argued that a single explanation at the cognitive, neural, or genetic level might be intractable [51,52,53]. However, interest in a potentially unifying account has recently re-emerged while making reference to and drawing upon the Bayesian brain hypothesis and particularly the predictive processing and active inference scheme [16,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62]. In the following, we direct our attention to the discussion of this approach and its relevance for ASC.…”

Section: Traditional Views On Ascmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Autism: Introducing the Dialectical Misattunement Hypothesis and a Bayesian Account of Intersubjectivity

Bolis

Balsters²,

Wenderoth³

et al. 2017

Psychopathology

152

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Drawing on sociocultural theories and Bayesian accounts of brain function, in this article we construe psychiatric conditions as disorders of social interaction to fully account for their complexity and dynamicity across levels of description and temporal scales. After an introduction of the theoretical underpinnings of our integrative approach, we take autism spectrum conditions (ASC) as a paradigm example and discuss how neurocognitive hypotheses can be translated into a Bayesian formulation, i.e., in terms of predictive processing and active inference. We then argue that consideration of individuals (even within a Bayesian framework) will not be enough for a comprehensive understanding of psychiatric conditions and consequently put forward the dialectical misattunement hypothesis, which views psychopathology not merely as disordered function within single brains but also as a dynamic interpersonal mismatch that encompasses various levels of description. Moving from a mere comparison of groups, i.e., “healthy” persons versus “patients,” to a fine-grained analysis of social interactions within dyads and groups of individuals will open new avenues and may allow to avoid an overly neurocentric scope in psychiatric research as well as help to reduce social exclusion.

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Alternative Bayesian accounts of autistic perception: comment on Pellicano and Burr

Cited by 141 publications

References 9 publications

Movement under uncertainty: The effects of the rubber-hand illusion vary along the nonclinical autism spectrum

Movement under uncertainty: The effects of the rubber-hand illusion vary along the nonclinical autism spectrum

Context sensitivity in action decreases along the autism spectrum: a predictive processing perspective

Beyond Autism: Introducing the Dialectical Misattunement Hypothesis and a Bayesian Account of Intersubjectivity

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