title: Over-Responsiveness and Greater Variability in Roughness Perception in Autism.
abstract: Although sensory problems, including tactile hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity (DSM-5) are commonly associated with autism, there is a dearth of systematic and rigorous research in this domain. Here, we report findings from a psychophysical experiment that explored differences in tactile perception between individuals with autism and typically developing control participants, who, using their index finger, rated a series of surfaces on the extent of their roughness. Each surface was rated multiple times and we calculated both the average rating and the variability across trials. Relative to controls, the individuals with autism perceived the surfaces as rougher overall and exhibited greater variability in their ratings across trials. These findings characterize altered tactile perception in autism and suggest that sensory problems in autism may be the product of overly responsive and variable sensory processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Sarah M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Haigh
authors.affiliation: Center for Excellence in Autism Research, University of Pittsburgh, Webster Hall, Suite 300, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Minshew
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, New York.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Heeger
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 653, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel.
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dinstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behrmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: autism; sensory hypersensitivity; tactile; variability