Bridging physiological and perceptual views of autism by means of sampling-based Bayesian inference

Theories for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been formulated at different levels, ranging from physiological observations to perceptual and behavioral descriptions. Understanding the physiological underpinnings of perceptual traits in ASD remains a significant challenge in the field. Here we sho...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Echeveste, Rodrigo Sebastián, Ferrante, Enzo, Milone, Diego Humberto, Samengo, Ines
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/216278
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/216278
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:AUTISM
HYPOPRIORS
INHIBITORY DYSFUNCTION
NEURAL CIRCUITS
SAMPLING-BASED INFERENCE
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.2
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:Theories for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been formulated at different levels, ranging from physiological observations to perceptual and behavioral descriptions. Understanding the physiological underpinnings of perceptual traits in ASD remains a significant challenge in the field. Here we show how a recurrent neural circuit model that was optimized to perform sampling-based inference and displays characteristic features of cortical dynamics can help bridge this gap. The model was able to establish a mechanistic link between two descriptive levels for ASD: a physiological level, in terms of inhibitory dysfunction, neural variability, and oscillations, and a perceptual level, in terms of hypopriors in Bayesian computations. We took two parallel paths—inducing hypopriors in the probabilistic model, and an inhibitory dysfunction in the network model—which lead to consistent results in terms of the represented posteriors, providing support for the view that both descriptions might constitute two sides of the same coin.