Action Prediction in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with
a heterogeneous set of deficits. Although many researchers have investigated
ASD over the past decades, the underlying mechanisms that cause autism are
still unclear. Recently, it has been suggested that a deficit in forming and
updating predictions about the surrounding world might be a potential mechanism
that could explain multiple of the diverse deficits associated with the
disorder. Our study focuses on investigating potential prediction deficits in
ASD with respect to predicting observed actions performed by others. Although
multiple previous studies do find prediction difficulties in individuals with
autism, especially concerning multi-step actions, other studies find
predictions of simple actions to be intact in ASD. Since the methods that have
previously been applied are very diverse and findings are mixed, we aim to
further explore this topic. To better understand potential deficits and
associated neural processes, we aim to link behavioural and neurocognitive
measures of action prediction in one experimental design, based on a previous
eye-tracking study conducted with healthy adults.

The main objective of this study is to investigate whether adolescents with
ASD, compared to healthy controls, show difficulties in generating and updating
predictions about an unfolding action sequence. Using Eye-tracking (ET) and
electroencephalography (EEG), we want to investigate whether prediction
deficits in ASD are apparent across multiple domains, and we will study the
relationship between neurocognitive and behavioural measures of action
prediction.

The proposed study is a non-invasive combined ET-EEG study in which
participants are presented with visual and auditory (language) stimuli
describing a multi-step action sequence. Participants eye movements are
recorded to investigate whether anticipations of consecutive action steps, and
EEG measurements are taken to assess connectivity patterns during this action
prediction process. The computerized task is followed by a short EEG resting
state measurement as well as the administration of a set of questionnaires and
psychometric tests.

Our study requires one visit to the Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and
Behavior with a time investment of about 3 hours. We apply non-invasive common
techniques to record eye movements (using Eye-tracking) and brain activation
(using EEG), as well as minimal standardized questionnaires and psychometric
tests. The risks associated with these measurements are negligible, no adverse
events are expected, and the burden for the participants is hence considered to
be minimal.
We chose to include minors (12-18 years-old) because of several reasons. First
of all, this age group is easily accessible for our research team which will
allow us to collect a reasonable sample size. Furthermore, the developmental
trajectory of deficits in action prediction in ASD, and it*s relation to brain
connectivity, is incompletely understood and investigating adolescents within
this age range might give us important insights in this trajectory.