Behavioural and neural indices of perceptual decision-making in autistic children during visual motion tasks

Manning, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6862-2525, Hassall, C. D., Hunt, L. T., Norcia, A. M., Wagenmakers, E.-J., Evans, N. J. and Scerif, G. (2022) Behavioural and neural indices of perceptual decision-making in autistic children during visual motion tasks. Scientific Reports, 12. ISSN 2045-2322 doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-09885-4

Abstract/Summary

Many studies report atypical responses to sensory information in autistic individuals, yet it is not clear which stages of processing are affected, with little consideration given to decision-making processes. We combined diffusion modelling with high-density EEG to identify which processing stages differ between 50 autistic and 50 typically developing children aged 6-14 years during two visual motion tasks. Our pre-registered hypotheses were that autistic children would show task-dependent differences in sensory evidence accumulation, alongside a more cautious decision-making style and longer non-decision time across tasks. We tested these hypotheses using hierarchical Bayesian diffusion models with a rigorous blind modelling approach, finding no conclusive evidence for our hypotheses. Using a data-driven method, we identified a response-locked centro-parietal component previously linked to the decision-making process. The build-up in this component did not consistently relate to evidence accumulation in autistic children. This suggests that the relationship between the EEG measure and diffusion-modelling is not straightforward in autistic children. Compared to a related study of children with dyslexia, motion processing differences appear less pronounced in autistic children. Exploratory analyses also suggest weak evidence that ADHD symptoms moderate perceptual decision-making in autistic children.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/104104
Identification Number/DOI	10.1038/s41598-022-09885-4
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Interdisciplinary centres and themes > ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) Research Network Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Development Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Perception and Action
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
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