Audiovisual temporal binding window narrows with age in autistic individuals

Abstract

Atypical sensory perception has been recognized in autistic individuals since its earliest descriptions and is now considered a key characteristic of autism. Although the integration of sensory information (multisensory integration; MSI) has been demonstrated to be altered in autism, less is known about how this perceptual process differs with age. This study aimed to assess the integration of audiovisual information across autistic children and adolescents. MSI was measured using a non‐social, simultaneity judgment task. Variation in temporal sensitivity was evaluated via Gaussian curve fitting procedures, allowing us to compare the width of temporal binding windows (TBWs), where wider TBWs indicate less sensitivity to temporal alignment. We compared TBWs in age and IQ matched groups of autistic (n = 32) and neurotypical (NT; n = 73) children and adolescents. The sensory profile of all participants was also measured. Across all ages assessed (i.e., 6 through 18 years), TBWs were negatively correlated with age in the autistic group. A significant correlation was not found in the NT group. When compared as a function of child (6–12 years) and adolescent (13–18 years) age groups, a significant interaction of group (autism vs NT) by age group was found, whereby TBWs became narrower with age in the autistic, but not neurotypical group. We also found a significant main effect of age and no significant main effect of group. Results suggest that TBW differences between autistic and neurotypical groups diminishes with increasing age, indicating an atypical developmental profile of MSI in autism which ameliorates across development.

Neural correlates of audiovisual narrative speech perception in children and adults on the autism spectrum: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

“…Further, we provided evidence that audiovisual speech perception in noise follows a developmental trajectory (Ross et al, 2011) where MS (multisensory) deficits can be observed up to the age of 12 years after which they appear to ameliorate (Beker et al, 2018; Foxe et al, 2015). Recent support for this developmental amelioration of MS processing deficits comes from a study by Ainsworth et al (Ainsworth & Bertone, 2022). The investigators observed that the temporal binding window for MS stimuli narrowed with age from childhood (6–12 years) to adolescence (13–18 tears) in an ASD sample indicating increasing sensitivity to temporal alignment of stimuli.…”

“…T A B L E 1 1 Significant differences between typically developed (TD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) groups in the asynchronous audiovisual condition (AVa) condition. developmental amelioration of MS processing deficits comes from a study by Ainsworth et al (Ainsworth & Bertone, 2022). The investigators observed that the temporal binding window for MS stimuli narrowed with age from childhood (6-12 years) to adolescence (13-18 tears) in an ASD sample indicating increasing sensitivity to temporal alignment of stimuli.…”

Differences in audiovisual temporal processing in autistic adults are specific to simultaneity judgments

“…An important further consideration is that the majority of the existing research examining differences in audiovisual temporal processing among autistic individuals has been conducted with children and adolescents (e.g., de Boer‐Schellekens et al, 2013; Stevenson, Siemann, et al, 2014). Recent evidence suggests that multisensory processing differences in autistic individuals may diminish during adolescence and later development (Ainsworth & Bertone, 2023; Foxe et al, 2015), and so while investigating changes associated with development is not an aim of this research project, investigating audiovisual temporal processing in a group of autistic adults may provide some evidence toward indicating if reduced sensitivity to audiovisual asynchrony associated with ASD persists later in adulthood.…”

Age, not autism, influences multisensory integration of speech stimuli among adults in a McGurk/MacDonald paradigm

“…Narrowing of this window, which can be seen as a refinement of temporal processing acuity, occurs during typical development (Hillock et al, 2011; Hillock‐Dunn & Wallace, 2012; Lewkowicz & Flom, 2014) but is both delayed and diminished among those with autism (de Boer‐Schellekens et al, 2013; Foss‐Feig et al, 2010; Stevenson, Siemann, et al, 2014). However, recent research challenges the degree to which this applies to autistic adults (Ainsworth & Bertone, 2023; Weiland et al, 2022; Zhou et al, 2022).…”