Sensory processing

Introduction

Medical conditions that are known to have signs and symptoms of atypical sensory reactivity may present particular challenges during lactation and breastfeeding as a daily activity.

Problem

There is limited information about the experiences and needs of breastfeeding women with autism spectrum conditions. Those on the autism spectrum have key patterned behaviors of atypical sensory reactivity to tactile, visual, auditory, olfactory, proprioceptive, and vestibular stimuli as well as a strong need for movement, sameness, and predictability which can be experienced when engaging in any daily activity.

Discussion

Observations in clinical practice indicate that unique, heightened sensory experiences occur for some women on the autism spectrum in response to the typical sensory stimuli of breastfeeding, but are largely unexplored in the lactation literature.

Conclusion

This article seeks to increase the visibility of atypical sensory reactivity in lactation and proposes the inclusion of autism spectrum conditions and sensory sensitivities in the lactation intake process.

Misophonia is generally viewed as a condition where a person has an extreme emotional response and accompanying visceral arousal. A recent fMRI study indicates that the emotional response is driven by the vmPFC and is a conditioned emotional response. Another study which focused on the initial physical response concluded that misophonia includes an immediate elicited physical response (most commonly a muscle flinch, but it can be almost any physical response). Stimulus-Response classical conditioning theory is described and applied to misophonia. Based on recent research, a proposed diagnostic criteria for misophonia is presented based on the proposed criteria of Misophonia: Diagnostic Criteria for a New Psychiatric Disorder by Schroder, Vulnik, and Denys (2013). Other data presented are age of onset of misophonia, frequency of auditory and visual triggers, and comorbidity

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare sensory processing styles of men and women to investigate another possible gender differences.
Methods: A sample of 360 participant (180 men and 180 women, age range 20-60 years, age-mean= 36 years) from Tehran, completed Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (Brown & Dunn, 2002). This Self-Questionnaire evaluates person’s behavioral responses to everyday sensory experiences, and shows four categories of sensory processing style (sensation seeking, low registration, sensation avoiding and sensory sensitivity) based on neurological thresholds and behavioral responses.
Results: Data was analyzed through independent t-test method. Significant gender differences were found for sensation seeking: Women showed a higher score in sensation seeking than men (p=0.002, t=3.049). This means that women in this study had higher neurological threshold and more active behavioral response comparing to men. There were not significant differences between men and women in three other sensory processing styles (low registration, sensation avoiding and sensory sensitivity).
Conclusions: The findings prepared another aspect of gender differences. It also suggests that gender differences in sensory processing style be considered in psychotherapy, consulting and other related planning for intervention.

Sensory processing disorder (SPD) is a term advocated by some occupational therapists to describe a range of problems that might be amenable to particular treatment strategies, and has mainly been applied within the fields of paediatrics and learning disability.In this article,the authors investigate whether there could be a common ground between borderline personality disorder (BPD) and SPD and describe an extension of the treatment strategies for SPD to those with BPD in their acute inpatient unit

Patterns and structures in the built environment often contain features associated with visual discomfort. Reported symptoms include eye-ache, fatigue and headaches. Individuals with sensory processing differences report more serious issues including migraine, nausea, vestibular issues, anxiety, and sensory overload. Visual discomfort has a significant impact on autistic, ADHD, dyspraxia. and dyslexic groups because they experience differences in sensory engagement and are less likely to be accommodated in one-size-fits-all design approach. Current best-practice guidance does not provide adequate information to address visual discomfort, or tools to identify potential issues.
This paper uses a multi-method approach to identify if materials specified in commercial buildings contain physical properties associated with visual discomfort and if groups with sensory processing differences are more affected. It analysed statistical properties of images, perceived environmental conditions, task fitness, emotional response and ratings of visual discomfort, and found patterns in commercial flooring have statistical properties associated with unpleasant effects.
This result show that in this study, neurodivergent groups with sensory processing differences report greater discomfort when looking at these patterns compared to the neurotypical group. Finally, we conclude that methods used in this study demonstrate virtual modelling techniques can successfully be used for assessment of visual discomfort and provide a practice tool for architects and designers in the pre-construction design stage.

This study investigates the presence of sensory modulation dysfunction (SMD) among children with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Twenty-six children with ADHD (mean age 8.3 years, 18 males, 8 females), and 30 typically developing children (mean age 8.2 years, 21 males, 9 females) were tested using a laboratory procedure that gauges responses to repeated sensory stimulation by measuring electrodermal reactivity (EDR). Parental report measures of limitations in sensory, emotional, and attentional dimensions were administered using the Short Sensory Profile, the Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised, Parent Rating subscales, and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Compared to the typical sample, the children with ADHD displayed greater abnormalities in sensory modulation on both physiological and parent-report measures. The children with ADHD also displayed more variability in responses. Within the group with ADHD, levels of SMD were highly correlated with measures of psychopathology on the CBCL. Implications of findings relate to the importance of considering sensory processing abilities in a subgroup of children with ADHD.

The domain and theories of marketing have been expanding since the origins of the discipline. Since the 1970s marketing science has been organized around the exchange paradigm. Marketing concepts apply to all forms of exchange, whether it is goods, services, personages, places or ideas, and whether it is between individuals, for-profit and nonprofit firms, governments and NGOs. Marketing theories evolved from a firm oriented view to encompass the exchanging dyad. More recently the paradigm expanded to a network level of explanation, and relational theories have come to the fore. But even as the field struggles to grasp its new fields of explanation, there is a Kuhnian shift happening at its boundaries. The shift significantly bends the marketing worldview as well as the theoretical tools and methodologies we use to study it. In this paper we develop a three-tiered explanation of the emerging field of marketing—its subphenomena (consumer experiences and sensory systems), its phenomena (marketing networks), and its superphenomena (sustainability and development).

Sensory functioning atypicalities are a common feature in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and have previously been linked to a range of behaviours in individuals with ASD and atypical neurological development. More recently research has demonstrated a relationship between autistic traits in the neurotypical (NT) population and increased levels of atypical sensory behaviours. The aim of the present study is to extend previous research by examining specific patterns across aspects of autistic traits and sensory behaviours within both ASD and NT populations. The present study recruited 580 NT adults and 42 high-functioning ASD adults with a confirmed diagnosis to investigate the relationship between specific aspects of autistic traits and sensory functioning using the subscales of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ) and adult/adolescent sensory profile (AASP). Results showed a significant relationship between all subscales except for attention to detail and imagination on the AQ and provided the first evidence that the strength and pattern of this relationship is largely identical between NT and ASD adults. These data also provided support for the broader autism phenotype, uncovering a clear progression of sensory atypicalities in line with an increase in autistic traits, regardless of diagnostic status, which has potential implications for the spectrum approach to ASD and how sensory behaviours across the whole of the neurotypical population are conceptualised.

This thesis explores the lived experience of children defined as atypical.  The ethnographic focus of the study spans an initial cohort of nine children from private schools in Johannesburg diagnosed variously with learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, speech disabilities, sensory challenges, anxiety, and autism. In-depth observational work was also conducted with autistic children at a boxing programme based in the inner city, from more diverse socio-economic backgrounds.  A final level of insight was gained from ‘deep hanging out’ amongst atypical adults in online ‘bio’ social media groups spanning autism, ADHD, learning disabilities and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Using the philosophy and methodology of phenomenology, I developed a model that illustrates a cycle of atypical embodied engagement with the world, spanning stages or phenomena of Presence, Perception, Control, Participation, Flow, Communication and Adaptability.  While there is much contestation over the homogenisation of ‘neurodiverse’ brains (Ortega 2009), the lived experience of atypical children that I observed during my research had a high degree of consistency.
Using a range of creative interactive methodologies, I collaboratively explored what is understood and misunderstood around each of these stages or phenomena from the perspective of those defined as atypical.  Much of the dominant academic and popular discourse surrounding atypicality focusses on either a medical or social model of disability.  By mapping medical diagnoses to a social model of engagement, a new holistic perspective was revealed.  This traversed the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social motivations, behaviour and agency of the children illustrating their unique and different ways of being in the world.  New enabling characteristics were identified in behaviours previously defined and diagnosed as disabilities.
This exploration brings to light the meaning that atypical children derive from their various stages of engagement with their world. A new kind of spectrum emerged that moved beyond disabling biomedical labels to one of enablement.  The vectors of this spectrum could travel in either direction, without implying dysfunction or defectiveness. My research revealed a multitude of cultural and social creativity and invention, which the children continue to expand in the ‘biosocial borderland’ that they occupy.

Modern humans are consistently immersed in a world of uniform stimuli. From the white photons in the background of digital documents, to the subtle hum of a motorized fan, these stimuli are not just repetitive but also homogeneous. For the majority of life’s evolution, these homogeneous sources of stimuli have not existed, unlike digital screens, even the photons reflecting from a paper book vary depending on the angle of the background light. In excess, the homogeneous and indistinguishable stimuli of the modern world may prove to be detrimental to optimal brain function. Experiments from others have indicated that increasing an environment’s complexity is favorable to learning. Other studies also have shown that increasing the number of stimuli a person experiences can increase their capacity to learn. The hypothesis of this research is that increasing the amount of distinguishable stimuli for two-dimensional documents, such as text, increases the brain’s ability to recall memories and decreases the time it takes to create them. This is based on the concept that all data in a memory store needs distinguishing characteristics for it to be useful in recall. The experiment proposed in this paper increases the distinguishability of text and background colors of the participant’s digital documents and then analyzes the consequential effect on memory creation and recall. The participants will be split up into four groups, each with two digital text documents of comparable content and difficulty. The control group will have no change made to their two documents, and the other three groups will have either the text colors differentiated, the background made non-solid, or both. There will be no change made to each of the experimental groups’ second paper. The changes to the differentiability will be consciously noticeable upon close examination yet will be as non-distracting to the reader as possible. The read times and content recallability of the readers will then be recorded and analyzed.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and sensory processing disorders are behaviorally defined conditions that often co-occur, while both diagnoses have been controversial in part due to the constraints of categorical behavioral diagnosis. However, neuroanatomic studies using neuropsychological tests as "probes" have clearly demonstrated that the various symptoms of ADHD are the result of abnormalities in large-scale brain networks. Sensory processing disorders have not yet been grounded within a neuroanatomical substrate. This article reviews sensory processing disorder as a categorically based diagnosis. It discusses certain possible neuroanatomical relationships between the symptoms of ADHD and sensory processing disorders, and suggests that the symptoms of sensory processing disorders be studied within the dimensional framework of research domain criteria.