A predictive coding perspective on autism spectrum disorders
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GENERAL COMMENTARY article Front. Psychol., 28 January 2013Sec. Perception Science Volume 4 - 2013 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00019
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Predictive coding models of autism spectrum disorder postulate that individuals with autism spectrum disorder present impairments in high-level sensory perception (hypo-priors) rather than low-level sensory perception.
“The latter finding is consistent with the predictive coding models of ASD (Pellicano and Burr, 2012; Van Boxtel and Lu, 2013), which postulate that individuals with ASD present impairments in high-level sensory perception (i.e., hypo-priors) rather than low-level sensory perception (Kern et al., 2007; Tavassoli et al., 2014).”
From Predictive coding in neuropsychiatric disorders: a systematic transdiagnostic review. (2025) · cites this paper as Van Boxtel and Lu, 2013
The paper’s discussion of exogenous attention links ASD to decreased high-level processing and less precise predictions, or “hypo-priors.” But its discussion of the predictive coding framework also says perceptual differences might arise from an attentional bias toward lower-level stimulus characteristics, rather than necessarily from malfunctioning higher-level areas. It therefore supports the hypo-prior account, not the categorical “rather than low-level” contrast. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the elaboration of the Bayesian brain hypothesis of ASD and subsequent theoretical papers, results from numerous earlier cognitive and psychophysical studies were re-interpreted post hoc in the novel framework.
“In the elaboration of the Bayesian brain hypothesis of ASD (2) and subsequent theoretical papers (3, 4, 97–99), results from numerous earlier cognitive and psychophysical studies were re-interpreted post hoc in the novel framework.”
From Can Bayesian Theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder Help Improve Clinical Practice? (2016) · cites this paper as [98]
A rapidly gaining theory of autism spectrum disorder is that individuals with autism spectrum disorder lack a robust historical representation of the world, making it difficult to predict upcoming events.
“A theory of ASD that is rapidly gaining credibility is the notion that individuals with ASD do not have a robust historical representation of the world. This lack of a probabilistic “map” of the world makes it difficult for those with ASD to predict upcoming events, and this lack of predictive coding thus limits interactions with the external environment (Pellicano and Burr, 2012; Sinha et al., 2”
From Behavioral, Perceptual, and Neural Alterations in Sensory and Multisensory Function in Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) · cites this paper as van Boxtel and Lu, 2013
Predictive coding, hypo-priors, Weak Central Coherence, and Enhanced Perceptual Functioning accounts characterize perception in ASD as under-utilizing top-down processes or over-functioning of bottom-up sensory processes.
“Predictive coding, hypo-priors, Weak Central Coherence, and Enhanced Perceptual Functioning accounts characterize perception in ASD as under-utilizing top-down processes (context, prior knowledge, or global coherence) or over-functioning of bottom-up sensory processes (Pellicano and Burr, 2012, Van Boxtel and Lu, 2013, Van de Cruys et al., 2012, Lawson et al., 2014, Frith, 1989, Happe and Frith, 2”
From The impact of atypical sensory processing on social impairments in autism spectrum disorder (2018) · cites this paper as Van Boxtel and Lu, 2013
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- Authors
- van Boxtel, J. J. A., & Lu, H.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 19-19
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3556598
- OpenAlex
- W2030520068
- Cited by
- 210
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 5
- FWCI
- 9.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- 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
- predictive coding, autism spectrum disorder, Bayesian brain, perceptual prediction
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