The Relationship Between Autism and Pitch Perception is Modulated by Cognitive Abilities.

The autistic participants all had typical cognitive abilities and no intellectual or verbal impairment, so the findings may not apply to autistic people with those impairments. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show how pitch perception develops over time. Participants did not all complete every pitch task, so different tasks were analysed with different numbers of participants. Some autistic participants reported ADHD, and removing them changed a musical pitch perception result, so attention may affect longer pitch tasks. The pitch tasks were not matched in difficulty, so differences between music and non-music tasks remain speculative.

The supplied text lists funding from the European Research Council and the H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. It does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration.

Do not conclude that autism improves pitch perception. The study found no enhanced pitch perception, and autistic participants performed similarly or poorer on some tasks. Cognitive abilities were associated with pitch scores, so differences should not be read as a simple autism effect.