Work was conducted via 6 work packages (WPs). WP1 the enroll and neuropsychologically test the patients and the control groups, in collaboration with the medical department at the host institution. Unfortunately, the enrolment of patients did not go as expected and the medical department didn’t deliver any patients. However, the enrollment and the psychological testing of the control groups (scored for autistic traits) was successful and led to a substantial number of participants. Moreover, in collaboration with the Edge Hill University, the Fellow was able to recruit and test autistic patients, spanning from children (6-10), adolescents (11-18), young adults and adults (>30). WP2 sought to test the ability in localizing stimuli during an eye movement. The ability to localize accurately and precisely, requires a system able to detect an error in judgment and adjust for this error accordingly. When this ability is missing, problems in motor components, such as repetitive or stereotyped behaviors, can occur. In it, the Fellow delivered 4 conference presentations and 4 conference publications, 2 published journal articles and additional 2 journal manuscripts underway.
WP3 involved exploring how individual with autistic traits make use of the context around them. The Fellow exceeded goals by delivering 3 conference presentations and 1 paper publication. In addition, the Fellow has 2 manuscripts underway.
The first major project under WP3 had two focus points: (1) understanding how we make use of the motion information during an eye movement and to (2) study how individuals with autism predict and adapt their behavior based on changes in the context. The project was split in two. The first part of the project is currently under review on a major impact factor journal, while the second already received an award during the European Conference of Visual Perception 2023 in Phaphos, Cyprus. In WP4 the developed mastery of another methodology: virtual reality. Under this package the Fellow programmed a virtual reality environment to study visuomotor recalibration failures in autism in a more ecological environment. Deliverables included presentation at a conference and paper publication. The abstract of the study conducted will be soon submitted at the conference of Visual Perception (VSS, Visual Science Society) for consideration. The paper of the study is now in preparation.
In WP5 and 6, for researcher training and transfer-of-knowledge and outreach activities, the Fellow attended multi-day conferences and trainings. She provided leadership in publishing and research at university, national, and international levels. To transfer of knowledge, she conducted workshops for researchers on how to write a successful Marie Curie proposal; she provided supervision and mentoring for early career researchers. She was appointed Review Editor in Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disorders) and in Frontiers in Psychology.
Results of this MSCA are reported in: (1) forthcoming papers on motion perception and object localization during saccade in autism disorders; (2) forthcoming papers using a newly acquired methodology (virtual reality); (3) papers about motor failures in autistic symptomatology; (4) but also papers on healthy adults that helped shed light on sensorimotor mechanisms in the typical population. data sets collected during this MSCA will inform and enhance dozens of publications in the coming years, in addition to the ones produced and published during the fellowship itself.
