Sensory Processing Patterns and Fusiform Activity During Face Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The sample was small: 18 adults with autism and 19 controls. Sensory processing was measured only by one self-reported questionnaire, the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile. The study did not test treatment, so it cannot show that sensation avoiding causes face-processing differences or that treatment changes them. The autism group had a marginally significant full-scale IQ difference from controls, although IQ was controlled in the correlation analysis. The subgroup comparison used very few participants in the high sensation avoiding groups: 5 with autism and 4 controls. Background differences, including age and sensory sensitivity scores, were marginally different between autism subgroups and may have affected the subgroup result. Participants were recruited without considering sensory processing patterns, and only Low Registration scores differed between groups; this variation may have made it hard to see links. The main brain result was a correlation in a small sample, and the authors caution against proposing a causal relationship.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Do not conclude that sensation avoiding causes abnormal face processing or that treatment focused on sensation avoiding will improve face recognition. The study measured a correlation in 18 adults with autism and 19 controls, and the subgroup result had only 5 autism participants in the high sensation avoiding group.