Title |
An aberrant precision account of autism
|
---|---|
Published in |
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, May 2014
|
DOI | 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00302 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Rebecca P. Lawson, Geraint Rees, Karl J. Friston |
Abstract |
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by problems with social-communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. A recent and thought-provoking article presented a normative explanation for the perceptual symptoms of autism in terms of a failure of Bayesian inference (Pellicano and Burr, 2012). In response, we suggested that when Bayesian inference is grounded in its neural instantiation-namely, predictive coding-many features of autistic perception can be attributed to aberrant precision (or beliefs about precision) within the context of hierarchical message passing in the brain (Friston et al., 2013). Here, we unpack the aberrant precision account of autism. Specifically, we consider how empirical findings-that speak directly or indirectly to neurobiological mechanisms-are consistent with the aberrant encoding of precision in autism; in particular, an imbalance of the precision ascribed to sensory evidence relative to prior beliefs. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 18 | 28% |
United States | 9 | 14% |
France | 3 | 5% |
Canada | 3 | 5% |
Denmark | 2 | 3% |
Italy | 1 | 2% |
Japan | 1 | 2% |
Ireland | 1 | 2% |
Brazil | 1 | 2% |
Other | 4 | 6% |
Unknown | 21 | 33% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 46 | 72% |
Scientists | 16 | 25% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 2% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Australia | 2 | <1% |
Germany | 2 | <1% |
United States | 2 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 2 | <1% |
Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
France | 1 | <1% |
Portugal | 1 | <1% |
Japan | 1 | <1% |
Belgium | 1 | <1% |
Other | 0 | 0% |
Unknown | 617 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 131 | 21% |
Researcher | 87 | 14% |
Student > Bachelor | 81 | 13% |
Student > Master | 70 | 11% |
Professor | 30 | 5% |
Other | 106 | 17% |
Unknown | 125 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 228 | 36% |
Neuroscience | 99 | 16% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 35 | 6% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 31 | 5% |
Computer Science | 14 | 2% |
Other | 58 | 9% |
Unknown | 165 | 26% |