PREDEMAUT

This project was carried out at the LPNC (CRNS/Grenoble Alpes University, FRANCE) between 2018 and 2022 and was the main focus of my thesis. It was conducted under the supervision of Pr. Martial Mermillod (LPNC, Grenoble, France) and Dr. Marie Gomot (iBrain), Tours, France).

Predictive processes have been highlighted in visual processing, suggesting that the brain first rapidly extracts global information from visual stimuli, which are derived from low spatial frequencies and enable predictions based on past experiences. These predictions are then used for rapid recognition. This process is well-established in the processing of natural scenes, but it may also play a role in face processing. Autistic individuals often face challenges with faces, although autistic females sometimes show a more similar pattern to non-autistic individuals (for example, in attention orientation to faces) than autistic males. Additionally, autistic people exhibit specific visual processing preferences, with a natural inclination towards details.

In this series of studies, combining behavioral experiments and EEG, we investigated whether atypical face processing in autism could be linked to differences in predictive processes involving spatial frequency processing and whether there were sex-related differences. We found specificities in predictive processing, but only during attentional face processing. We also observed differences between autistic males and females.

The full details of the method used and the findings are presented in the following four articles:

• Lacroix, A., et al. (2024). Sex modulation of faces prediction error in the autistic brain. Communications Biology, 7(1), also summarized here.
• Lacroix, A., et al. (2024). Reduced spatial frequency differentiation and sex-related specificities in fearful face detection in autism: Insights from EEG and the predictive brain model. Autism Research, also summarized here.
• Lacroix, A., et al. (2022). The Predictive Role of Low Spatial Frequencies in Automatic Face Processing: A Visual Mismatch Negativity Investigation. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16., also summarized here.
• Lacroix, A., et al. (2021). High spatial frequency filtered primes hastens happy faces categorization in autistic adults. Brain and Cognition, 155, 105811., also summarized here.