A hypothesis on the deficit of lipreading during linguistic perception in subjects with autism: observations from robotic interactions
Abstract
For many years various computational studies have attempted to bring deficits into inferential deficits in integrating top-down inputs. However, in this study we aim to show via the concept of interoceptive inference that in individuals with ASD a malfunction in the processes of synchronization with others may also explain part of their language deficits. To do that, we have shown that there is an inverse correlation between the amount of time spent by children with ASD observing the interlocutor’s mouth and their social skills. This data, combined with the observation (now widely accepted by scientific literature) that individuals with ASD usually do not integrate information from lipreading with the linguistic message, has led us to hypothesize that an inability to interpret as biological motion the complex articulatory movements necessary for speech production, caused by a deficit in interoceptive inferential processes, could be the effect of a dispersion of attention that impedes perceiving the audio-visual synchrony during verbal perception.References
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