Children with autism see simple movement twice as quickly as
other children their age, and this hypersensitivity to motion may provide clues
to a fundamental cause of the developmental disorder, according to a new study.
Such heightened sensory perception in autism may help
explain why some people with the disorder are painfully sensitive to noise and
bright lights. It also may be linked to some of the complex social and
behavioral deficits associated with autism, says Duje Tadin, one of the lead
authors on the study and an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences
at the University of Rochester.