Laurina Fazioli

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a class of neurodevelopmental disorders that affect social interaction, communication, sensory processing, and other aspects of cognition and behavior. Although ASD research has traditionally focused on social cognition, alterations to sensory processing are increasingly recognized as a core phenotype. Perceptual decision-making lies at this interface, and influential theories propose a Bayesian decision-theoretic framework for understanding processing alterations in ASD. Yet perceptual decision making has received scant direct investigation.

The objectives of this project can be summarized in two questions about Bayesian decision making in ASD: First, to what extent does perceptual decision making in ASD incorporate prior knowledge, sensory uncertainty, and reward? Second, to what extent does higher-level metacognitive decision making in ASD incorporate these three components?
The research team is exploring these questions by conducting behavioral experiments and using the frame of bayesian decision making and advanced signal detection theory to test the different hypotheses.