Investigating cognitive control and sensory integration across ADHD, ASD, and neurotypical individuals

Multisensory attention, the selective attention to synchronized audiovisual information, plays a central role in perception, learning, and cognitive control (Bahrick & Lickliter, 2014). Atypical patterns of multisensory attention have been documented in individuals with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), often involving differences in selective attention and temporal processing (Stevenson et al., 2014; Schulze et al., 2021). Despite this, few studies have examined individual differences in adults' multisensory attention using a consistent measure. To advance understanding in the literature, this study investigates whether the Intersensory Processing Efficiency Protocol (IPEP) is a viable longitudinal protocol for assessing developmental multisensory attention. The study sample consisted of 98 adults aged 18-58 who completed the IPEP protocol with self-reported ADHD or ASD symptomology. Participants were drawn from an undergraduate population, comprising 82.7% females and 14.3% males. IPEP eye-tracking data were collected from all participants using the Eyelink 1000+. Intersensory processing efficiency was assessed using latency, accuracy, and fixation-based indices, including the proportion of trials with target fixation and the proportion of total looking time (IPEP; Bahrick, Soska, & Todd, 2018). Associations between symptom severity and IPEP outcomes were examined using correlational analyses, with complementary group comparisons between participants with high and low symptom severity. Across the sample, the proportion of looking time to target (PTLT) was significantly above chance. In addition, frequency differentiation was significantly above zero, indicating that participants attended to the target appropriately relative to the distractor information. This indicates that the IPEP was effective in indexing multisensory attention in adult populations. Most importantly, the mixed ANOVA revealed a robust difference in individual attention to the target between social trials and non-social trials. The results expand the literature on how multisensory attention allocation affects development throughout an individual’s lifetime, broaden understanding of multisensory attention in neurodivergent populations, and inform future research using the IPEP protocol.