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Cited by 44Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchAction Observation and SynchronizationEmbodied and Extended Cognition

An examination of active inference in autistic adults using immersive virtual reality

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Arthur, Tom, Harris, David, Buckingham, Gavin, Brosnan, Mark, Wilson, Mark, Williams, Genevieve, Vine, Sam·2021·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-021-99864-yPMC PMC8514518

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Abstract

The integration of prior expectations, sensory information, and environmental volatility is proposed to be atypical in Autism Spectrum Disorder, yet few studies have tested these predictive processes in active movement tasks. To address this gap in the research, we used an immersive virtual-reality racquetball paradigm to explore how visual sampling behaviours and movement kinematics are adjusted in relation to unexpected, uncertain, and volatile changes in environmental statistics. We found that prior expectations concerning ball ‘bounciness’ affected sensorimotor control in both autistic and neurotypical participants, with all individuals using prediction-driven gaze strategies to track the virtual ball. However, autistic participants showed substantial differences in visuomotor behaviour when environmental conditions were more volatile. Specifically, uncertainty-related performance difficulties in these conditions were accompanied by atypical movement kinematics and visual sampling responses. Results support proposals that autistic people overestimate the volatility of sensory environments, and suggest that context-sensitive differences in active inference could explain a range of movement-related difficulties in autism.

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  • Individuals with autism spectrum disorder could learn priors similarly to healthy controls, although they showed less flexibility in adjusting precision in volatile contexts.

    “In addition, they could learn priors similarly to HC, although they showed less flexibility in adjusting precision in volatile contexts (i.e., an environment that is constantly changing) (Arthur et al., 2021).”

    From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Arthur et al., 2021

    The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that autistic participants used a prediction-driven visual strategy similarly to neurotypical participants, supporting comparable use of prior information, though it does not directly establish that both groups learned priors equally. It also reports atypical behaviours associated with volatility, but says the groups appeared to adjust visual sampling and motor kinematics comparably as environmental stability changed. Thus, the claim of less flexible precision adjustment in volatile contexts overstates the findings. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Arthur et al. [43] report data from a virtual reality tennis task in which participants were required to intercept a ball that bounced in front of them.

    “Arthur et al. [43] report data from a virtual reality (VR) tennis task in which participants were required to intercept a ball that bounced in front of them.”

    From Testing predictive coding theories of autism spectrum disorder using models of active inference (2023) · cites this paper as Arthur et al. [43]

    The Results describe a VR task in which participants intercepted a ball that bounced toward them. However, the Introduction and Methods identify it as a virtual racquetball task, not a tennis task; the Methods say only that the virtual ball resembled a tennis ball. Page numbers are not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Arthur, T., Harris, D., Buckingham, G., Brosnan, M., Wilson, M., Williams, G., & Vine, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Exeter (GB)
  • University of Bath (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Arthur, Tom
  • Vine, Sam
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-10-13
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
20377-20377
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-021-99864-y
PMC
PMC8514518
OpenAlex
W3205508925
Cited by
44
References
20
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 1
FWCI
4.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P000630/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
Keywords
active inference, autism spectrum disorder, immersive virtual reality, prior expectations, environmental volatility, uncertainty, sensorimotor control, movement kinematics, visual sampling, gaze behavior, visuomotor control
MeSH terms
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Virtual Reality, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Biomechanical Phenomena, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Movement

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