Cross-modal extinction in a boy with severely autistic behaviour and high verbal intelligence

Yoram S. Bonneh; Matthew K. Belmonte; Francesca Pei; Portia E. Iversen; Tal Kenet; Natacha Akshoomoff; Yael Adini; Helen J. Simon; Christopher I. Moore; John F. Houde; Michael M. Merzenich

doi:10.1080/02643290802106415

Cross-modal extinction in a boy with severely autistic behaviour and high verbal intelligence

Yoram S. Bonneh
, Matthew K. Belmonte
, Francesca Pei
, Portia E. Iversen
, Tal Kenet
, Natacha Akshoomoff
, Yael Adini
, Helen J. Simon
, Christopher I. Moore
, John F. Houde
, Michael M. Merzenich

University of Haifa
Weizmann Institute of Science
Cornell University
Idtalian Association for Vision Science (AISV)
Cure Autism Now Foundation
Massachusetts General Hospital
University of California at San Diego
Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of California at San Francisco

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Anecdotal reports from individuals with autism suggest a loss of awareness to stimuli from one modality in the presence of stimuli from another. Here we document such a case in a detailed study of A.M., a 13-year-old boy with autism in whom significant autistic behaviours are combined with an uneven IQ profile of superior verbal and low performance abilities. Although A.M.'s speech is often unintelligible, and his behaviour is dominated by motor stereotypies and impulsivity, he can communicate by typing or pointing independently within a letter board. A series of experiments using simple and highly salient visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli demonstrated a hierarchy of cross-modal extinction, in which auditory information extinguished other modalities at various levels of processing. A.M. also showed deficits in shifting and sustaining attention. These results provide evidence for monochannel perception in autism and suggest a general pattern of winner-takes-all processing in which a stronger stimulus-driven representation dominates behaviour, extinguishing weaker representations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	635-652
Number of pages	18
Journal	Cognitive Neuropsychology
Volume	25
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/02643290802106415
State	Published - Jul 2008
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank William Hirstein, Stefano Baldassi, Russ Hamer, David Blake, and Tony Norcia for valuable consultation. We thank Dorit Ben Shalom for helpful comments. We thank the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute for hosting most of the testing. We acknowledge the contribution of the written evaluation of A.M. as severely autistic by Lorna Wing, Judith Gold, and Beate Hermelin. The study was supported by Cure Autism Now and by a grant from the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel to the first author. Special thanks to our participant and his mother for their enormous effort and collaboration.

Funding

We thank William Hirstein, Stefano Baldassi, Russ Hamer, David Blake, and Tony Norcia for valuable consultation. We thank Dorit Ben Shalom for helpful comments. We thank the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute for hosting most of the testing. We acknowledge the contribution of the written evaluation of A.M. as severely autistic by Lorna Wing, Judith Gold, and Beate Hermelin. The study was supported by Cure Autism Now and by a grant from the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel to the first author. Special thanks to our participant and his mother for their enormous effort and collaboration.

Funders
Cure Autism Now
National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel

Keywords

Attention
Auditory
Autism
Cross-modal
Extinction
Multimodal
Perception
Tactile
Visual

Access to Document

10.1080/02643290802106415

Cite this

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title = "Cross-modal extinction in a boy with severely autistic behaviour and high verbal intelligence",

abstract = "Anecdotal reports from individuals with autism suggest a loss of awareness to stimuli from one modality in the presence of stimuli from another. Here we document such a case in a detailed study of A.M., a 13-year-old boy with autism in whom significant autistic behaviours are combined with an uneven IQ profile of superior verbal and low performance abilities. Although A.M.'s speech is often unintelligible, and his behaviour is dominated by motor stereotypies and impulsivity, he can communicate by typing or pointing independently within a letter board. A series of experiments using simple and highly salient visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli demonstrated a hierarchy of cross-modal extinction, in which auditory information extinguished other modalities at various levels of processing. A.M. also showed deficits in shifting and sustaining attention. These results provide evidence for monochannel perception in autism and suggest a general pattern of winner-takes-all processing in which a stronger stimulus-driven representation dominates behaviour, extinguishing weaker representations.",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank William Hirstein, Stefano Baldassi, Russ Hamer, David Blake, and Tony Norcia for valuable consultation. We thank Dorit Ben Shalom for helpful comments. We thank the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute for hosting most of the testing. We acknowledge the contribution of the written evaluation of A.M. as severely autistic by Lorna Wing, Judith Gold, and Beate Hermelin. The study was supported by Cure Autism Now and by a grant from the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel to the first author. Special thanks to our participant and his mother for their enormous effort and collaboration.",

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AU - Adini, Yael

AU - Simon, Helen J.

AU - Moore, Christopher I.

AU - Houde, John F.

AU - Merzenich, Michael M.

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Cross-modal extinction in a boy with severely autistic behaviour and high verbal intelligence

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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