Vr & Participatory Autism Research weird one may need to go over

Dr Tom Arthur

Autism & sensorimotor difficulties

• 79% of autistic people experience sensorimotor difficulties (green et al, 09)

• can limit independence & quality of life

• unclear how it can be managed effectively

Autism & driving

• research shown that autistic p face significant challenges & barriers relating to driving

  • e.g struggle with managing changing enviroments

• low level of autisitc drivers

  • limits their indepndence and employment prospects

• use extended reality for them to get used to it 

Extended reality as a research tool

• collection of technologies that allow p to interact w/3D using their natural senses & skills

• have many different measuring opporunties

  • eye tracking, movement tracking 

Extended reality as a support tool

• Working with sport to allow for better training

• allows for control of enviroment

• can allow for metrics of expertise

  • better feedback 

• e.g stable focus on ball before putting, allows them to develop expertise in golf without needing a trainer

• in a systematic review (Arthur, 2025) showed stimulation training is most well research driving support method lack of high quality research & transfer test 

• want to ensure accessibility

Extended reality transferring learning

• practice in VR

• first put of going out of VR = limits

• Theoretically works but performing task in a different way

Equity of intervnetions

• MRI failures cost alot of money → exposure in VR

• looked at availability, accessibility and acceptability

  • found there is a lot of risk for making it worse

    • cannot rely on someone getting a VR and using it well

  • different digital literature skills may limits it actual accessibility

  • always exclude certain individuals

  • discomfort, time and demand

Double jeopardy, single impact model

• availability, accessibility and acceptability

  • inequity is incremented & accelerated by the limitation

• inequity can be amelorated if implemented successfully

  • if done right can go on to help

Bayesian Inference and Predictive Coding

• info signalling research

• shaping studies on human perception, action, learning, and even consciousness

• see brain as a computer creating models to process information = schema

  • having a predctive model allows us to focus on certain thing (ball) against everything else (visual)

  • skipping gaze to where ball will lend (Gaze)

  • activation of muscles (motor)

Neuro-Computational Approach to examining sensorimotor differences in racquet ball task

• previous research suggest autistic individuals struggle with predictive models

• Autistic participants showed significantly lower overall scores for task performance

• But effects were specific to volatile trial conditions (and were highly variable between individuals)

• Autistic participants used an anticipatory strategy

Arthur et al (2021)

• controlled ball ‘bounce’ (stable/unpredictable)

• autistic p showed significantly lower overall scores for task performance

• able to see mechanisms in VR = able to see where their gaze which shows prior beliefs

• normal ball were more successfully predicted

• bouncy ball provides lag & pronounced pupil dilation 

• autisitc people where using same prediction as effectively as neuortypical

  • did tend to update more regularly

  • but do sturggle with it changing multiple times

Neurocomputational approach to augment learning enviroments

• using eye tracking we can index

  • prior expectations & beleifs

  • susprisal response and predcition erriors

  • learning rate overtime

• The predictive processing of sensory cues differs in autistic people

• Sensorimotor difficulties emerge in unpredictable/volatile conditions

• XR can be used to control these condition

can use VR to modify predictive processing

Participatory Methods

• XRAD Steering Group

  • CO-desing

• Used interactive concept demonstrations to stimulate discussions/ideas

• Creative activities in small subgroups (based on driver status and activity)

• multiple levels in which autistic idnivdual should be involved e.g what they build → what skills foucsed → how its worded

key takeaway of Vr & Participatory Autism Research

• VR can be used to examine interdisciplinary research questions

• It can also be used to provide targeted support and adaptive learning experiences, in alignment with core psychology principles and theories

• There are various opportunities that could be realised through participatory co-design practices

• LOTS more work still needs to be done in this space