Abstract
Previous studies have suggested that sensory overresponsivity in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be due to a failure to habituate to stimuli. We examined the relationship between performance on three tactile psychophysical tasks and the construct of sensory overresponsivity in children with and without ASD. Sensory overresponsivity predicted amplitude discrimination with an adapting stimulus, as well as the effect of adaptation, for ASD youth. Results replicate previous research that children with ASD are less affected by the presence of an adapting stimulus as compared to typically developing children, and further suggest that sensory overresponsivity may be the mechanism underlying the observed lack of an adaptation effect in children with ASD.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank our undergraduate research assistants for their dedication and commitment to the CARE Lab. We would also like to thank the families and children who graciously gave their time for this research.
Author Contributions
NR conceptualized the idea for this project. EPM wrote the paper and analyzed the data. YW contributed to data analysis and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
This project was made possible by Grant support from a grant from the Hill Collaboration on Environmental Medicine-Diseases of the Nervous System to NR, as well as a grant by the National Institutes of Health (1R01MH101536-01) to NR.
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McKernan, E.P., Wu, Y. & Russo, N. Sensory Overresponsivity as a Predictor of Amplitude Discrimination Performance in Youth with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 3140–3148 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04013-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04013-0