Janina Neufeld

This project will investigate the mechanisms of detail-oriented perception in autism and synesthesia, and their possible implications for social functioning. The project will contribute to a better understanding of the etiology of both conditions and perception in humans in general.We will characterize similarities and differences of detail-oriented perception in autism and synesthesia, using established visual tasks (performance) and simultaneous eye tracking (visual strategy). Second, we will investigate altered perceptual inference in autism and synesthesia, i.e. how learned assumptions influence perception, and whether these alterations are linked social difficulties. Third, we will investigate the brain mechanisms of detail-oriented perception and perceptual inference in autism and synesthesia, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In all these studies, we compare individuals with autism/high autistic traits or synesthesia not only to controls without these conditions (case-control design), but also their twins (co-twin control design), enabling us to estimate relative genetic and environmental influences. After a 6 month build-up phase (preparation, recruitment), data acquisition for all 3 studies will be conducted in parallel over 2 years, followed by 6 months to finalize analyses and publication.The project is both clinically relevant, since it can help to identify new biomarkers and interventions for autism, and of interest for a broader research community.