The influence of prior knowledge on perception and action: Relationships to autistic traits

Gavin Buckingham, Elizabeth-Evgenia Michelakakis, Gnanathusharan Rajendran

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    20 Citations (Scopus)
    113 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Autism is characterised by a range of perceptual and sensorimotor deficits, which might be related to abnormalities in how autistic individuals use prior knowledge. We investigated this proposition in a large non-clinical population in the context of the size-weight illusion, where individuals’ expectations about object weight influence their perceptions of heaviness and fingertip forces. Although there was no relationship between autistic traits and the magnitude of the illusion, we observed an inverse relationship between AQ scores and how expectations influenced initial fingertip force application. These findings provide a novel dissociation between how perceptual and sensorimotor processes are related to autistic traits, and suggest that autistic traits might explain some of the variance surrounding how individuals grip and lift objects.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1716-1724
    Number of pages9
    JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
    Volume46
    Issue number5
    Early online date28 Jan 2016
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2016

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