Disentangling the perceptual underpinnings of autism: Evidence from a face aftereffects experiment.
Julius Hennig, Arne Doose, Clara Marie Breier and 8 others
PMID 39676584WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents with autism showed intact gender face adaptation but slower processing of male faces.
The study found no evidence for the 'imprecise priors' or 'increased sensory precision' hypotheses, suggesting a lack of the typical own-gender bias seen in neurotypical peers.
Key findings
01Participants with autism did not show reduced face adaptation effects compared to controls, contradicting the 'imprecise priors' hypothesis.
02The autism group had slower information accumulation (lower drift rates) specifically for male test faces, indicating an absence of the own-gender bias.
03There was no significant association between the degree of autistic traits or depression scores and the observed changes in processing speed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The sample was small (68 participants) and consisted only of male adolescents without intellectual disabilities. Results may not generalize to females with autism or adults. The study only used male and androgynous adaptors, omitting female adaptors. The groups differed in depression scores, though no correlation was found with the main results.
Declared interests
One author (VR) has received consulting fees, lecture honoraria, and research support from pharmaceutical companies including Lilly, Novartis, Shire, and Medice Pharma. The study was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, German Research Foundation, and Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the slower processing of male faces as a general deficit in face perception. The study found intact adaptation mechanisms and no difference in processing female faces, suggesting a specific absence of the own-gender bias rather than a broad perceptual impairment.