A significant between‐group difference in MSI was evident in the literature , with individuals with ASD demonstrating worse audiovisual integration on average across studies compared to TD controls .
This effect was moderated by mean participant age , such that between‐group differences were more pronounced in younger sample s. The mean correlation between MSI and autism and related symptomatology was also significant , indicating that increased audiovisual integration in individuals with ASD is associated with better language /communication abilities and /or reduced autism symptom severity in the extant literature .
This effect was moderated by whether the stimuli were linguistic versus non‐linguistic in nature , such that correlation magnitudes tended to be significantly greater when linguistic stimuli were utilized in the measure of MSI .
& NA ; An ever‐growing literature has aim ed to determine how individuals with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) differ from their typically developing ( TD ) peers on measures of multisensory integration ( MSI ) and to ascertain the degree to which differences in MSI are associated with the broad range of symptoms associated with ASD .
Findings , however , have been highly variable across the studies carried out to date .
The present work systematic ally review s and quantitatively synthesizes the large literature on audiovisual MSI  in individuals with ASD to evaluate the cumulative evidence for ( a ) group differences between individuals with ASD and TD peers , ( b ) correlations between MSI and autism symptoms in individuals with ASD and ( c ) study level factors that may moderate findings ( i.e. , explain differential effects ) observed across studies .
Reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony in infancy predicts autism diagnosis at 3 years of age
BACKGROUND Effective multisensory processing develops in infancy and is thought to be important for the perception of unified and multimodal objects and events . Previous research suggests impaired multisensory processing in autism , but its role in the early development of the disorder is yet uncertain . Here , using a prospect i ve longitudinal design , we tested whether reduced visual attention to audiovisual synchrony is an infant marker of later-emerging autism diagnosis . METHODS We studied 10-month-old siblings of children with autism using an eye tracking task  previously used in studies of preschoolers . The task assessed the effect of manipulations of audiovisual synchrony on viewing patterns while the infants were observing point light displays of biological motion . We analyzed the gaze data recorded in infancy according to diagnostic status at 3 years of age ( DSM-5 ) . RESULTS Ten-month-old infants who later received an autism diagnosis did not orient to audiovisual synchrony expressed within biological motion . In contrast , both infants at low-risk and high-risk siblings without autism at follow-up had a strong preference for this type of information . No group differences were observed in terms of orienting to upright biological motion . CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that reduced orienting to audiovisual synchrony within biological motion is an early sign of autism . The findings support the view that poor multisensory processing could be an important antecedent marker of this neurodevelopmental condition
A significant between‐group difference in MSI was evident in the literature , with individuals with ASD demonstrating worse audiovisual integration on average across studies compared to TD controls .
This effect was moderated by mean participant age , such that between‐group differences were more pronounced in younger sample s. The mean correlation between MSI and autism and related symptomatology was also significant , indicating that increased audiovisual integration in individuals with ASD is associated with better language /communication abilities and /or reduced autism symptom severity in the extant literature .
This effect was moderated by whether the stimuli were linguistic versus non‐linguistic in nature , such that correlation magnitudes tended to be significantly greater when linguistic stimuli were utilized in the measure of MSI .
& NA ; An ever‐growing literature has aim ed to determine how individuals with autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) differ from their typically developing ( TD ) peers on measures of multisensory integration ( MSI ) and to ascertain the degree to which differences in MSI are associated with the broad range of symptoms associated with ASD .
Findings , however , have been highly variable across the studies carried out to date .
The present work systematic ally review s and quantitatively synthesizes the large literature on audiovisual MSI  in individuals with ASD to evaluate the cumulative evidence for ( a ) group differences between individuals with ASD and TD peers , ( b ) correlations between MSI and autism symptoms in individuals with ASD and ( c ) study level factors that may moderate findings ( i.e. , explain differential effects ) observed across studies .