Predictive coding has recently been welcomed as a fruitful framework to understand autism spectrum disorder. Starting from an account centered on deficient differential weighting of prediction errors (based in so-called precision estimation), we illustrate that individuals with autism have particular difficulties with separating signal from noise, across different tasks. Specifically, we discuss how deficient precision-setting is detrimental for learning in unstable environments, for context-dependent assignment of salience to inputs, and for robustness in perception, as illustrated in coherent motion paradigms.

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doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2016.08.004, hdl.handle.net/1765/108644
Brain and Cognition
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Van de Cruys, S. (Sander), van der Hallen, R., & Wagemans, J. (2017). Disentangling signal and noise in autism spectrum disorder. Brain and Cognition, 112, 78–83. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2016.08.004