Intégration sensorielle chez les individus ayant un trouble du spectre de l’autisme
The ability to integrate information from one or more sensory modalities is essential to perceive the world as unified and coherent. It has been suggested that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be associated with difficulties to integrate sensory information from different modalities. However, the empirical evidences remain complex and equivocal. In this context, the purpose of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the relationship between ASD and sensory integration. The results suggest that ASD is associated with a decrease in the ability to integrate information from different sensory modalities (MSI). Contrary to what was suggested in the literature, this difficulty generalizes to social and non-social stimuli. It also seems specific to MSI, since no deficit was observed for the integration of stimuli coming from the same modality. Moreover, the reduced MSI observed in ASD is not related to atypical attentional shift between modalities, which is similar in both groups. Overall, these results improve knowledge related to sensory integration in individuals with ASD. These demonstrate atypical MSI processes in ASD, and pave the way for future studies that will attempt to clarify the etiology, the neural correlates and, more importantly, the clinical impact associated with these differences in MSI.
Vision Audition Tact Sensory integration Autism spectrum disorder Vision Audition Somatosensory