Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-5-2025

Comments

This article is the author's final published version in Psychological Review, Volume 133, Issue 2, 2026, Pages 450 - 487.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000558. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).

Abstract

Autism has historically been defined by the presence of differences in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities (RRBs). Since 2013 when the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was published, sensory features were added as one of the polythetic restricted and repetitive behavior diagnostic criteria of autism, though it has remained understudied. Here, we summarize theory and research to provide support for the perspective that early sensory functions and experiences play a primary role in autism and have downstream effects on social communication and repetitive behavioral features of autism. The goals of this article are to provide an understanding of the current sensory research landscape over the early developmental period; to contextualize our knowledge autism within a developmental framework; to delineate a cascading developmental model that provides testable hypotheses; and to identify current gaps in research that would allow us to further our understanding of the role, and primacy of sensory differences in the development of the autistic phenotype. We close by offering a set of recommendations for the field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

PubMed ID

40471805

Language

English

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