Relations Between the McGurk Effect, Social and Communication Skill, and Autistic Features in Children with and without Autism

Jacob I Feldman; Julie G Conrad; Wayne Kuang; Alexander Tu; Yupeng Liu; David M Simon; Mark T Wallace; Tiffany G Woynaroski

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05074-w

Relations Between the McGurk Effect, Social and Communication Skill, and Autistic Features in Children with and without Autism

J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 May;52(5):1920-1928. doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-05074-w. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

Authors

Jacob I Feldman^{1

2

3}, Julie G Conrad^{4

5}, Wayne Kuang^{4

6}, Alexander Tu^{4

7}, Yupeng Liu^{4

8}, David M Simon⁹, Mark T Wallace^{10

11

9

12

13

14

15}, Tiffany G Woynaroski^{11

16

9

12}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, MCE 8310 South Tower, 1215 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA. j.i.feldman@vumc.org.
² Frist Center for Autism & Innovation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. j.i.feldman@vumc.org.
³ Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA. j.i.feldman@vumc.org.
⁴ Neuroscience Undergraduate Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
⁵ College of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁶ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, USA.
⁷ College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
⁸ Washington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁹ Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, MCE 8310 South Tower, 1215 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37232, USA.
¹¹ Frist Center for Autism & Innovation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹² Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.

Abstract

Children with autism show alterations in multisensory integration that have been theoretically and empirically linked with the core and related features of autism. It is unclear, however, to what extent multisensory integration maps onto features of autism within children with and without autism. This study, thus, evaluates relations between audiovisual integration and core and related autism features across children with and without autism. Thirty-six children reported perceptions of the McGurk illusion during a psychophysical task. Parents reported on participants' autistic features. Increased report of illusory percepts tended to covary with reduced autistic features and greater communication skill. Some relations, though, were moderated by group. This work suggests that associations between multisensory integration and higher-order skills are present, but in some instances vary according to diagnostic group.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Communication skill; McGurk; Multisensory integration; Social skill.

MeSH terms

Acoustic Stimulation
Autism Spectrum Disorder*
Autistic Disorder* / diagnosis
Child
Communication
Humans
Illusions*
Visual Perception

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding