Perceptual experience is influenced both by incoming
sensory information and prior knowledge about the
world, a concept recently formalised within Bayesian
decision theory. We propose that Bayesian models can
be applied to autism – a neurodevelopmental condition
with atypicalities in sensation and perception – to
pinpoint fundamental differences in perceptual mechanisms.
We suggest specifically that attenuated Bayesian
priors – ‘hypo-priors’ – may be responsible for the
unique perceptual experience of autistic people, leading
to a tendency to perceive the world more accurately
rather than modulated by prior experience. In this account,
we consider how hypo-priors might explain key
features of autism – the broad range of sensory and
other non-social atypicalities – in addition to the
phenomenological differences in autistic perception.
Closely related: When the world becomes ‘too real’: a Bayesian explanation of autistic perception