Prior information use and response caution in perceptual decision-making: No evidence for a relationship with autistic-like traits

Interpreting the world around us requires integrating incoming sensory signals with prior information. Autistic individuals have been proposed to rely less on prior information and make more cautious responses than non-autistic individuals. Here, we investigated whether these purported features of a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Boehm, U. (Author), Cai, J. (Author), Cochrane, A. (Author), Manning, C. (Author), Retzler, C. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publications Ltd 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:View Fulltext in Publisher
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020 |a 17470218 (ISSN) 
245 1 0 |a Prior information use and response caution in perceptual decision-making: No evidence for a relationship with autistic-like traits 
260 0 |b SAGE Publications Ltd  |c 2021 
856 |z View Fulltext in Publisher  |u https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218211019939 
520 3 |a Interpreting the world around us requires integrating incoming sensory signals with prior information. Autistic individuals have been proposed to rely less on prior information and make more cautious responses than non-autistic individuals. Here, we investigated whether these purported features of autistic perception vary as a function of autistic-like traits in the general population. We used a diffusion model framework, whereby decisions are modelled as noisy evidence accumulation processes towards one of two bounds. Within this framework, prior information can bias the starting point of the evidence accumulation process. Our pre-registered hypotheses were that higher autistic-like traits would relate to reduced starting point bias caused by prior information and increased response caution (wider boundary separation). 222 participants discriminated the direction of coherent motion stimuli as quickly and accurately as possible. Stimuli were preceded with a neutral cue (square) or a directional cue (arrow). 80% of the directional cues validly predicted the upcoming motion direction. We modelled accuracy and response time data using a hierarchical Bayesian model in which starting point varied with cue condition. We found no evidence for our hypotheses, with starting point bias and response caution seemingly unrelated to Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores. Alongside future research applying this paradigm to autistic individuals, our findings will help refine theories regarding the role of prior information and altered decision-making strategies in autistic perception. Our study also has implications for models of bias in perceptual decision-making, as the most plausible model was one that incorporated bias in both decision-making and sensory processing. © Experimental Psychology Society 2021. 
650 0 4 |a adult 
650 0 4 |a Adult 
650 0 4 |a association 
650 0 4 |a autism 
650 0 4 |a Autism spectrum 
650 0 4 |a Autistic Disorder 
650 0 4 |a Bayes theorem 
650 0 4 |a Bayes Theorem 
650 0 4 |a cognition 
650 0 4 |a Cognition 
650 0 4 |a Cues 
650 0 4 |a diffusion model 
650 0 4 |a human 
650 0 4 |a Humans 
650 0 4 |a motion processing 
650 0 4 |a perceptual decisions 
650 0 4 |a reaction time 
650 0 4 |a Reaction Time 
700 1 |a Boehm, U.  |e author 
700 1 |a Cai, J.  |e author 
700 1 |a Cochrane, A.  |e author 
700 1 |a Manning, C.  |e author 
700 1 |a Retzler, C.  |e author 
773 |t Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology