Predictive coding in autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Open accessAbstract
Predictive coding has been proposed as a framework to understand neural processes in neuropsychiatric disorders. We used this approach to describe mechanisms responsible for attentional abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We monitored brain dynamics of 59 children (8-15 yr old) who had ASD or ADHD or who were control participants via high-density electroencephalography. We performed analysis at the scalp and source-space levels while participants listened to standard and deviant tone sequences. Through task instructions, we manipulated top-down expectation by presenting expected and unexpected deviant sequences. Children with ASD showed reduced superior frontal cortex (FC) responses to unexpected events but increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation to expected events. In contrast, children with ADHD exhibited reduced cortical responses in superior FC to expected events but strong PFC activation to unexpected events. Moreover, neural abnormalities were associated with specific control mechanisms, namely, inhibitory control in ASD and set-shifting in ADHD. Based on the predictive coding account, top-down expectation abnormalities could be attributed to a disproportionate reliance (precision) allocated to prior beliefs in ASD and to sensory input in ADHD.
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Gonzalez-Gadea et al. (2015) found a reduced P300 amplitude for unexpected deviant stimuli in children with ADHD, which could reflect weaker top-down expectations resulting from an overemphasis on novel sensory evidence.
“Indeed, Gonzalez-Gadea et al. (2015) found a reduced P300 amplitude for unexpected deviant stimuli in children with ADHD which could reflect weaker top-down expectations resulting from an overemphasis on novel sensory evidence.”
From Are prediction error modifications domain specific in autism but domain general in ADHD? (2025) · cites this paper as Gonzalez-Gadea et al. (2015)
The 'Top-Down Expectation Indexed by the P300' section reports reduced P300 responses to unexpected deviants in children with ASD, not ADHD; the ADHD group showed a higher P300 response to unexpected deviants than to standard sequences. The 'Top-Down Expectation in Children with ADHD' section does suggest that novel sensory evidence receives high precision relative to task instructions, but it reports reduced P300 amplitude for expected deviants. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredChildren with autism spectrum disorder showed reduced activity in the bilateral superior frontal cortex in response to unexpected events and increased late activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in response to expected events.
“Conversely, children with ASD showed reduced activity in the bilateral superior frontal cortex in response to unexpected events, and increased late activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in response to expected events (Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015).”
From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015
The P300 source-space results report reduced right superior frontal cortex activation in children with ASD during unexpected deviants, not reduced bilateral superior frontal activation (Fig. 6A–B). They also report greater late dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in the ASD group during expected deviants (Fig. 4C–D). (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCompared to healthy controls, individuals with autism spectrum disorder showed reduced P3 peak and reduced bilateral superior frontal cortex activation in response to unexpected events and increased late activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in response to expected events.
“Compared to HC, individuals with ASD showed reduced P3 peak and reduced bilateral superior frontal cortex activation in response to unexpected events and increased late activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in response to ex pected events (Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015).”
From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredADHD showed reduced attention-related P3 in the superior frontal cortex, coupled with increased late frontal activation to unexpected stimuli.
“ADHD showed reduced attention-related P3 in the superior frontal cortex, coupled with increased late frontal activa tion to unexpected stimuli (Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015).”
From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015
Individuals with ADHD showed increased responsivity to task-irrelevant stimuli.
“Contrariwise to ASD, individuals with ADHD showed an increased responsivity to task-irrelevant stimuli (Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015)”
From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015
Mismatch negativity has been conceptualised as an indicator of prediction errors.
“which has been conceptualised as an indicator of prediction errors (Cheng et al., 2016; Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015).”
From Are prediction error modifications domain specific in autism but domain general in ADHD? (2025) · cites this paper as Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015
Both results are compatible with a reduction in the precision of predictions (priors) in autistic patients compared to healthy subjects.
“Again, both results are compatible with a reduction in the precision of predictions (priors) in autistic patients compared to healthy subjects (102).”
From Can Bayesian Theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder Help Improve Clinical Practice? (2016) · cites this paper as [102]
An EEG study using a mismatch negativity design showed that, compared to unaffected participants, children with ASD display a diminished top-down P300 amplitude for unexpected stimuli and a greater amplitude for expected stimuli.
“Similarly, an EEG study using a mismatch negativity design which showed that, compared to unaffected participants, children with ASD display a diminished top-down P300 amplitude for unexpected stimuli and a greater amplitude for expected stimuli.”
From Can Bayesian Theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder Help Improve Clinical Practice? (2016) · cites this paper as [102]
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“…paradigms revealed decreased mismatch negativity amplitudes in adults with ADHD compared with adults without ADHD ( Dang et al., 2024; Hsieh et al., 2021; Kim et al., 2021), which has been conceptualised as an indicator of prediction errors ( Cheng et al., 2016; Gonzalez-Gadea et al., 2015).”
- Authors
- Gonzalez-Gadea, M. L., Chennu, S., Bekinschtein, T. A., Rattazzi, A., Beraudi, A., Tripicchio, P., Moyano, B., Soffita, Y., Steinberg, L., Adolfi, F., Sigman, M., Marino, J., Manes, F., & Ibanez, A.
- Affiliations
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO), Buenos Aires, Argentina;
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (GB)
- Programa Argentino para Niños, Adolescentes y Adultos con Condiciones del Espectro Autista (PANAACEA), Buenos Aires, Argentina;
- Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva (AR)
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Tourette, TOC, TDAH, y Trastornos Asociados (CITTTA), Buenos Aires, Argentina;
- Favaloro University (AR)
- Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (AR)
- Facultad de Psicologia, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Cordoba, Argentina; and
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Neurophysiology
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Published
- 2015-11
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2625-2636
- ISSN
- 0022-3077 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-1598
- PMC
- PMC4643094
- OpenAlex
- W2168796115
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8
- FWCI
- 4.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Neurophysiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) (submittedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- predictive coding, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, top-down expectations, superior frontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inhibitory control, set-shifting, children
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Acoustic Stimulation, Adolescent, Attention, Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, Auditory Perception, Child, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Female, Frontal Lobe, Humans, Male, Event-Related Potentials, P300
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