Understanding Illusion Helps Researchers Examine Autistic Traits

Statistics show that about 1 in 68 children will have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As scientists work to better understand the brain in individual's with the behavioral health issue, researchers at Monash University and Deakin University have examined new theories about how autism is focused on the way in which the brain combines new information from its senses, along with prior knowledge about the environment.

"It is still unclear what is happening differently in the brain to produce the social, sensory and other difficulties that individuals with autism can face," said PhD student Colin Palmer from Monash University's School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies concluded, in a news release. "We are testing a new type of theory, which implicates the brain's capacity for making predictions about its own sensory input. Autism may be related to problems with making those predictions sensitive to the wider context. This means that new sensory input is interpreted out of context, making it difficult to understand the world and to generalize to new situations."

For the study, researchers used a ‘rubber-hand' illusion that helped them examine how adults with autism experienced ‘ownership' of a fake prosthetic hand.

They placed a subject's hand out of sight, while a rubber band was put in front of the participant. By stroking the fake hand at the same time as the visible real one, findings showed that some could be convinced that the fake hand was theirs.

Following this study portion, participants were then asked to reach out and grasp an object with their hand. They found that hand movements were oftentimes disrupted by previous experience of the illusion. The study also showed that those who were low in autism-like traits were a bit more sensitive to the illusion.

"The study suggests that individuals may differ in how their brains draw upon contextual information when perceiving and interacting with the world," Palmer added. "This could contribute to sensory and movement difficulties, which are commonly experienced in autism."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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