1Developmental Disorders Section, Department of Rehabilitation for Brain Functions, Research Institute of National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-8555, Japan.
2Faculty of Informatics, Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan.
Multisens Res. 2020 Aug 17;34(2):129-151. doi: 10.1163/22134808-bja10033.
Visual distractors interfere with tactile temporal order judgment (TOJ) at moderately short stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) in typically developing participants. Presentation of a rubber hand in a forward direction to the participant's hand enhances this effect, while that in an inverted direction weakens the effect. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have atypical multisensory processing; however, effects of interferences on atypical multisensory processing in ASD remain unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of visual interference on tactile TOJ in individuals with ASD. Two successive tactile stimuli were delivered to the index and ring fingers of a participant's right hand in an opaque box. A rubber hand was placed on the box in a forward or inverted direction. Concurrently, visual stimuli provided by light-emitting diodes on the fingers of the rubber hand were delivered in a congruent or incongruent order. Participants were required to judge the temporal order of the tactile stimuli regardless of visual distractors. In the absence of a visual stimulus, participants with ASD tended to judge the simultaneous stimuli as the ring finger being stimulated first during tactile TOJ compared with typically developing (TD) controls, and congruent visual stimuli eliminated the bias. When incongruent visual stimuli were delivered, judgment was notably reversed in participants with ASD, regardless of the direction of the rubber hand. The findings demonstrate that there are considerable effects of visual interferences on tactile TOJ in individuals with ASD.
视觉干扰在正常发育的参与者中，在适中的短刺激起始时异步（SOA）下干扰触觉时间顺序判断（TOJ）。向参与者的手呈现向前方向的橡胶手会增强这种效果，而向相反方向呈现则会削弱这种效果。自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）个体的多感觉处理存在异常；然而，ASD 中干扰对异常多感觉处理的影响仍不清楚。在这项研究中，我们研究了视觉干扰对 ASD 个体触觉 TOJ 的影响。在不透明的盒子中，连续两次触觉刺激被传递到参与者右手的食指和无名指。橡胶手以向前或倒置的方向放置在盒子上。同时，通过橡胶手上的发光二极管提供视觉刺激，以一致或不一致的顺序传递。参与者被要求根据视觉干扰来判断触觉刺激的时间顺序。在没有视觉刺激的情况下，与正常发育（TD）对照组相比，ASD 患者在触觉 TOJ 中倾向于判断同时刺激的刺激首先是在无名指上，而一致的视觉刺激则消除了这种偏差。当呈现不一致的视觉刺激时，无论橡胶手的方向如何，ASD 患者的判断都明显逆转。研究结果表明，视觉干扰对 ASD 个体的触觉 TOJ 有相当大的影响。
