Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Auditory Stream Segregation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Benefits and Downsides of Superior Perceptual Processes

  • Perception In Autism
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Auditory stream segregation allows us to organize our sound environment, by focusing on specific information and ignoring what is unimportant. One previous study reported difficulty in stream segregation ability in children with Asperger syndrome. In order to investigate this question further, we used an interleaved melody recognition task with children in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this task, a probe melody is followed by a mixed sequence, made up of a target melody interleaved with a distractor melody. These two melodies have either the same [0 semitone (ST)] or a different mean frequency (6, 12 or 24 ST separation conditions). Children have to identify if the probe melody is present in the mixed sequence. Children with ASD performed better than typical children when melodies were completely embedded. Conversely, they were impaired in the ST separation conditions. Our results confirm the difficulty of children with ASD in using a frequency cue to organize auditory perceptual information. However, superior performance in the completely embedded condition may result from superior perceptual processes in autism. We propose that this atypical pattern of results might reflect the expression of a single cognitive feature in autism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. A semitone is the smallest musical interval in the Western tonal musical range. On a piano keyboard, a semitone is the distance between two adjacent keys.

References

  • Adams, N., & Jarrold, C. (2012). Inhibition in autism: Children with autism have difficulty inhibiting irrelevant distractors but not prepotent responses. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(6), 1052–1063. doi:10.1007/s10803-011-1345-3.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Alcántara, J. I., Weisblatt, E. J. L., Moore, B. C. J., & Bolton, P. F. (2004). Speech-in-noise perception in high-functioning individuals with autism or Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 45(6), 1107–1114. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.t01-1-00303.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • APA. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, text revision. Washington: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berti, S., Roeber, U., & Schröger, E. (2004). Bottom-up influences on working memory: Behavioral and electrophysiological distraction varies with distractor strength. Experimental psychology, 51, 249–257.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bey, C., & McAdams, S. (2002). Schema-based processing in auditory scene analysis. Perception & Psychophysics, 64(5), 844–854.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bey, C., & McAdams, S. (2003). Postrecognition of interleaved melodies as an indirect measure of auditory stream formation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 29(2), 267–279.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bhatara, A., Babikian, T., Laugeson, E., Tachdjian, R., & Sininger, Y. (2013). Impaired timing and frequency discrimination in high-functioning autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1–17. doi: 10.1007/s10803-013-1778-y.

  • Bölte, S., Holtmann, M., Poustka, F., Scheurich, A., & Schmidt, L. (2007). Gestalt perception and local-global processing in high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(8), 1493–1504. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0231-x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnel, A., McAdams, S., Smith, B., Berthiaume, C., Bertone, A., Ciocca, V., et al. (2010). Enhanced pure-tone pitch discrimination among persons with autism but not Asperger syndrome. Neuropsychologia, 48(9), 2465–2475. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.04.020.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonnel, A., Mottron, L., Peretz, I., Trudel, M., Gallun, E., & Bonnel, A. M. (2003). Enhanced pitch sensitivity in individuals with autism: A signal detection analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 15(2), 226–235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bregman, A. (1990). Auditory scene analysis: The perceptual organization of sound. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burack, J. A. (1994). Selective attention deficits in persons with autism: Preliminary evidence of an inefficient attentional lens. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(3), 535–543. doi:10.1037/0021-843x.103.3.535.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christ, S., Kester, L., Bodner, K., & Miles, J. (2011). Evidence for selective inhibitory impairment in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychology, 25(6), 690–701. doi:10.1037/a0024256.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ciesielski, K. T., Courchesne, E., & Elmasian, R. (1990). Effects of focused selective attention tasks on event-related potentials in autistic and normal individuals. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 75(3), 207–220. doi:10.1016/0013-4694(90)90174-I.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DePape, A.-M. R., Hall, G. B. C., Tillmann, B., & Trainor, L. J. (2012). Auditory processing in high-functioning adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. PLoS ONE, 7(9), e44084. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044084.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, W. J. (1973). The perception of interleaved melodies. Cognitive Psychology, 5(3), 322–337. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(73)90040-6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, W., & Westman, K. (1997). The sensory profile: The performance of a national sample of children without disabilities. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 51(1), 25–34.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Falter, C. M., Grant, K. C. P., & Davis, G. (2010). Object-based attention benefits reveal selective abnormalities of visual integration in autism. Autism Research, 3(3), 128–136. doi:10.1002/aur.134.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2006). The weak coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 5–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heaton, P. (2003). Pitch memory, labeling and disembedding in autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44(4), 543–551.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heaton, P. (2005). Interval and contour processing in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35(6), 787–793.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C., Happé, F., Baird, G., Simonoff, E., Marsden, A., Tregay, J., et al. (2009). Auditory discrimination and auditory sensory behaviours in autism spectrum disorders. Neuropsychologia, 47(13), 2850–2858.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Khalfa, S., Bruneau, N., Roge, B., Georgieff, N., Veuillet, E., Adrien, J., et al. (2004). Increased perception of loudness in autism. Hearing Research, 198(1–2), 87–92. doi:10.1016/j.heares.2004.07.006.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laffaiteur, J. P., Casali, M., Gualbert, J. M., & Madeline, C. (2001). Étude comparative du WISC-III et du K. ABC. Psychologie & Education, 46, 115–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavie, N. (2010). Attention, distraction, and cognitive control under load. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(3), 143–148. doi:10.1177/0963721410370295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepistö, T., Kuitunen, A., Sussman, E., Saalasti, S., Jansson-Verkasalo, E., Nieminen-von Wendt, T., et al. (2009). Auditory stream segregation in children with Asperger syndrome. Biological Psychology, 82(3), 301–307. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2009.09.004.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., Dilavore, P. C., et al. (2000). The autism diagnostic observation schedule-generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism diagnostic interview-revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(5), 659–685.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Macmillan, N. A., & Creelman, C. D. (1991). Detection theory: A user’s guide. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molnar-Szakacs, I., & Heaton, P. (2012). Music: A unique window into the world of autism. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1252(1), 318–324. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06465.x.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, B. C. J., & Gockel, H. E. (2012). Properties of auditory stream formation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1591), 919–931. doi:10.1098/rstb. 2011.0355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulieres, I., Hubert, B., & Burack, J. (2006). Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: an update, and eight principles of autistic perception. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 27–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mottron, L., Peretz, I., & Menard, E. (2000). Local and global processing of music in high-functioning persons with autism: Beyond central coherence? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(8), 1057–1065.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, K. (2012). Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder: A review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 36(2), 836–854. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.11.008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Remington, A., Swettenham, J., Campbell, R., & Coleman, M. (2009). Selective attention and perceptual load in autism spectrum disorder. Psychological Science, 20(11), 1388–1393.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Remington, A., Swettenham, J., & Lavie, N. (2012). Lightening the load: Perceptual load impairs visual detection in typical adults but not in autism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121(2), 544–551. doi:10.1037/a0027670.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, M. M., & Moore, B. C. J. (2005). The relationship between stream segregation and frequency discrimination in normally hearing and hearing-impaired subjects. Hearing Research, 204(1–2), 16–28. doi:10.1016/j.heares.2004.12.004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Russo, N., Zecker, S., Trommer, B., Chen, J., & Kraus, N. (2009). Effects of background noise on cortical encoding of speech in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(8), 1185–1196. doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0737-0.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, J. S., & Alain, C. (2007). Toward a neurophysiological theory of auditory stream segregation. Psychological Bulletin, 133(5), 780–799.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sussman, E., Wong, R., Horváth, J., Winkler, I., & Wang, W. (2007). The development of the perceptual organization of sound by frequency separation in 5-11-year-old children. Hearing Research, 225(1–2), 117–127. doi:10.1016/j.heares.2006.12.013.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tomchek, S. D., & Dunn, W. (2007). Sensory processing in children with and without autism: A comparative study using the short sensory profile. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(2), 190–200. doi:10.5014/ajot.61.2.190.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yago, E., Escera, C., Alho, K., & Giard, M.-H. (2001). Cerebral mechanisms underlying orienting of attention towards auditory frequency changes. NeuroReport, 12(11), 2583–2587.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Brigitte Assouline and Dr. Stéphane Cabrol for the recruitment of ASD individuals, Aurélie Bock for data collection. We also thank the participants and their family for their time and commitment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Neurosciences Fonctionnelles et Pathologiques, Département de psychologie, Université Lille 3, BP 60 149, 59653, Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France

    Lucie Bouvet

  2. Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (UMR CNRS 5105), Grenoble, France

    Lucie Bouvet, Sylviane Valdois & Sophie Donnadieu

  3. Clinique spécialisée de l’autisme, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, CETEDUM, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada

    Laurent Mottron

  4. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France

    Sylviane Valdois

  5. Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France

    Sophie Donnadieu

Authors
  1. Lucie Bouvet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Laurent Mottron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sylviane Valdois
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sophie Donnadieu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lucie Bouvet.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bouvet, L., Mottron, L., Valdois, S. et al. Auditory Stream Segregation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Benefits and Downsides of Superior Perceptual Processes. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 1553–1561 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-2003-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-2003-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation