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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 19, 2026

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Published on: April 22, 2015

The modality shift experiment in adults and children with high functioning autism.

Diane L Williams¹, Gerald Goldstein, Nancy J Minshew

¹Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. williamsd2139@duq.edu

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

|August 7, 2012

Summary

Children with autism show delayed information processing, particularly when shifting attention from auditory to visual stimuli. Adults with autism exhibit generalized slowness, suggesting developmental lags in basic processing.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Developmental Psychology
Cognitive Science

Background:

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by social communication deficits and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
Understanding the basic information processing mechanisms in autism is crucial for identifying developmental trajectories and potential interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate attentional shifting abilities within and across sensory modalities in children and adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) compared to typical development (TD).
To examine potential maturational lags in basic information processing in individuals with autism.

Main Methods:

Utilized the modality shift experiment (MSE), a reaction time task measuring responses to visual and auditory stimuli.
Compared performance of 33 children and 42 adults with HFA against age- and ability-matched typical controls.
Analyzed reaction times during shifts between visual (light) and auditory (sound) stimuli.

Main Results:

Children with autism exhibited an exaggerated modality shift effect (MSE) when shifting from auditory to visual stimuli, but not vice versa, compared to TD children.
Adults with autism did not show an exaggerated MSE but displayed generalized slower reaction times compared to TD adults.
These findings indicate modality-specific processing differences in autistic children and general processing delays in autistic adults.

Conclusions:

The results suggest a maturational lag in basic information processing mechanisms in autism, particularly evident in cross-modal attentional shifting in children.
The distinct patterns observed in children and adults with autism may reflect different developmental trajectories within the disorder.
Further research is needed to elucidate the neural underpinnings of these processing differences and their implications for cognitive development in autism.