Sensory Habituation in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Summary

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common developmental disabilities and often people with ASD have sensory processing disorders. These sensory processing disorders are often associated with problem behaviors and, more recently, have been connected to anxiety disorders in people with ASD. While it has been suggested that sensory processing responses in ASD could be malleable, current treatment strategies for sensory processing disorders in ASD have inconsistent results or lack large-sample sized data. This investigation will explore changes in neurophysiological activity in people with ASD and neurotypical peers after they are exposed to an unpleasant visual stimulus through a virtual reality systematic desensitization protocol. 30 people with ASD and 30 neurotypical people between the ages 7 - 35 will be recruited. The study have, 1) a practice magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visit with questionnaires, 2) a per-exposure MRI with structural and functional MRI collections, 3) a virtual reality systematic desensitization session where we will record the participant's physiological response using an Emotibit device, and 4) a post-exposure MRI session with structural and functional MRI collections. This investigation aims to quantify changes in neurophysiological responses in order to determine the effect of systematic desensitization.

Conditions

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Autism
• Sensory Processing Disorder
• Sensory Over-Responsivity

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Sensory Habituation Protocol

The first session continues with the Mock MRI, which lasts 10 minutes. Participant's comfort level in VR will be evaluated. At the pre-exposure visit, participants complete an MRI scan on a 3 Tesla MRI, which takes approximately 1 hour \& 15 minutes. It consists of structural \& functional MRI scans. Structural scans require the participant to stay still with eyes closed. Functional scans will require the participant to lie with eyes closed or watch and listen to sensory stimulation. VR exposure will occur across 3 1-hour sessions at most. Participants will be asked to complete a sensory habituation protocol, in which they will watch and listen to sensory stimuli in VR for an increasing amount of time. Between the sensory stimuli, the participant will watch a self-selected video. Finally, the subject will be asked to do a post-exposure MRI visit, which is the same as the pre-exposure visit.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nebraska

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• James E Gehringer, PhD · University of Nebraska

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-01-08

Primary Completion

2024-10-07

Completion

2024-10-07

Countries

• United States

Study Locations