Increased context adjustment is associated with auditory sensitivities but not with autistic traits

Abstract

Bayesian models of autism suggest that alterations in context-sensitive prediction error weighting may underpin sensory perceptual alterations, such as hypersensitivities. We used an auditory oddball paradigm with pure tones arising from high or low uncertainty contexts to determine whether autistic individuals display differences in context adjustment relative to neurotypicals. We did not find group differences in early prediction error responses indexed by mismatch negativity. A dimensional approach revealed a positive correlation between context-dependent prediction errors and subjective reports of auditory sensitivities, but not with autistic traits. These findings suggest that autism st..