Altered cognitive processes shape tactile perception in autism

Altered sensory perception is a hallmark of autism and influences how autistic individuals engage with their environment. Among sensory modalities, tactile perception is particularly critical for daily functioning and social interactions. While these sensory alterations are thought to contribute to the cognitive differences observed in autism, the impact of cognitive processes —such as categorization, prior experience, and attention — on sensory perception remains poorly understood.

In this study, we investigated how cognitive processes modulate tactile perception in the Fmr1- KO genetic mouse model of autism. We developed a translational, forepaw-based perceptual decision-making task designed to dissociate stimulus-driven tactile responses from those shaped by cognitive factors. This approach enabled us to assess multiple aspects of perceptual processing, including perceptual learning, stimulus categorization and discrimination, as well as the influence of prior experience and attention. Mice were initially trained to distinguish between high- and low-salience stimuli and were subsequently tested with a continuum of intermediate stimulus intensities.

Our results revealed salience-dependent cognitive alterations that influenced sensory performance. During the training phase, Fmr1 ^−/y male mice exhibited an increased choice consistency bias in low-salience trials, contributing to reduced perceptual learning performance. In the testing phase, Fmr1 ^−/y male mice demonstrated enhanced tactile discrimination of low-salience stimuli, while discrimination facilitation for stimuli crossing category boundaries was reduced. Increased low-salience discrimination was dissociable from attention, with Fmr1 ^−/y mice displaying attentional deficits under conditions of high cognitive load despite their enhanced tactile sensitivity. Although choice consistency bias was comparable between genotypes during the testing phase, Fmr1 ^−/y mice showed impaired sensory history integration, with reduced influence of the previous stimulus on their current choice.

Together, our findings reveal that cognitive context shapes sensory perception in autism. Rather than reflecting uniform sensory deficits or enhancements, alterations in tactile perceptual decision-making instead emerged from context-dependent differences in how sensory information is weighted and integrated during decision-making. These results advocate for a shift beyond traditional sensory–cognitive dichotomies to better capture the dynamic interplay between perceptual and cognitive alterations in autism.