Diminished Signal‐to‐Noise Ratio Disrupts Somatosensory Population Encoding and Drives Tactile Hyposensitivity in the Fmr1 ^−/y Autism Model

-hyposensitive mice stems from diminished single-neuron signal-to-noise ratio within layers 2/3 of the primary somatosensory cortex that contributes to weak population encoding of the tactile stimulus and its detection. This manifests as reduced stimulus-dependent neural recruitment, impaired response precision, and disrupted ensemble dynamics. Decreasing neuronal excitability strengthens sensory encoding and restores tactile perception. This work provides a translational framework for probing neuronal-perceptual changes in neurodevelopmental conditions, reveals inter-individual variability in preclinical models, and uncovers the neural basis of tactile hyposensitivity in autism.