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Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum

When different images are presented to the eyes, the brain is faced with ambiguity, causing perceptual bistability: visual perception continuously alternates between the monocular images, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry. Many models of rivalry suggest that its temporal dynamics depend on mutua...

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Autores principales: Karaminis, Themelis, Lunghi, Claudia, Neil, Louise, Burr, David, Pellicano, Elizabeth
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5485021/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28301094
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aur.1749
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author Karaminis, Themelis
Lunghi, Claudia
Neil, Louise
Burr, David
Pellicano, Elizabeth
author_facet Karaminis, Themelis
Lunghi, Claudia
Neil, Louise
Burr, David
Pellicano, Elizabeth
author_sort Karaminis, Themelis
collection PubMed
description When different images are presented to the eyes, the brain is faced with ambiguity, causing perceptual bistability: visual perception continuously alternates between the monocular images, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry. Many models of rivalry suggest that its temporal dynamics depend on mutual inhibition among neurons representing competing images. These models predict that rivalry should be different in autism, which has been proposed to present an atypical ratio of excitation and inhibition [the E/I imbalance hypothesis; Rubenstein & Merzenich, 2003]. In line with this prediction, some recent studies have provided evidence for atypical binocular rivalry dynamics in autistic adults. In this study, we examined if these findings generalize to autistic children. We developed a child‐friendly binocular rivalry paradigm, which included two types of stimuli, low‐ and high‐complexity, and compared rivalry dynamics in groups of autistic and age‐ and intellectual ability‐matched typical children. Unexpectedly, the two groups of children presented the same number of perceptual transitions and the same mean phase durations (times perceiving one of the two stimuli). Yet autistic children reported mixed percepts for a shorter proportion of time (a difference which was in the opposite direction to previous adult studies), while elevated autistic symptomatology was associated with shorter mixed perception periods. Rivalry in the two groups was affected similarly by stimulus type, and consistent with previous findings. Our results suggest that rivalry dynamics are differentially affected in adults and developing autistic children and could be accounted for by hierarchical models of binocular rivalry, including both inhibition and top‐down influences. Autism Res 2017. ©2017 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research Autism Res 2017, 10: 1096–1106. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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spelling pubmed-54850212017-07-11 Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum Karaminis, Themelis Lunghi, Claudia Neil, Louise Burr, David Pellicano, Elizabeth Autism Res Research Articles When different images are presented to the eyes, the brain is faced with ambiguity, causing perceptual bistability: visual perception continuously alternates between the monocular images, a phenomenon called binocular rivalry. Many models of rivalry suggest that its temporal dynamics depend on mutual inhibition among neurons representing competing images. These models predict that rivalry should be different in autism, which has been proposed to present an atypical ratio of excitation and inhibition [the E/I imbalance hypothesis; Rubenstein & Merzenich, 2003]. In line with this prediction, some recent studies have provided evidence for atypical binocular rivalry dynamics in autistic adults. In this study, we examined if these findings generalize to autistic children. We developed a child‐friendly binocular rivalry paradigm, which included two types of stimuli, low‐ and high‐complexity, and compared rivalry dynamics in groups of autistic and age‐ and intellectual ability‐matched typical children. Unexpectedly, the two groups of children presented the same number of perceptual transitions and the same mean phase durations (times perceiving one of the two stimuli). Yet autistic children reported mixed percepts for a shorter proportion of time (a difference which was in the opposite direction to previous adult studies), while elevated autistic symptomatology was associated with shorter mixed perception periods. Rivalry in the two groups was affected similarly by stimulus type, and consistent with previous findings. Our results suggest that rivalry dynamics are differentially affected in adults and developing autistic children and could be accounted for by hierarchical models of binocular rivalry, including both inhibition and top‐down influences. Autism Res 2017. ©2017 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research Autism Res 2017, 10: 1096–1106. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017-03-16 2017-06 /pmc/articles/PMC5485021/ /pubmed/28301094 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aur.1749 Text en © 2017 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Karaminis, Themelis
Lunghi, Claudia
Neil, Louise
Burr, David
Pellicano, Elizabeth
Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
title Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
title_full Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
title_fullStr Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
title_full_unstemmed Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
title_short Binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
title_sort binocular rivalry in children on the autism spectrum
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5485021/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28301094
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aur.1749
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