Perception of odors and tastes in autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review of assessments.
Smell and taste tests in ASD show naming problems more than detection problems—check identification before assuming hypersensitivity.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at 14 papers on smell and taste in autism.
They asked: Do kids with ASD really smell or taste things differently?
They checked both simple detection (Can you smell this?) and naming tasks (What is this smell?).
What they found
Some kids had trouble naming smells or tastes.
But when tested on simple detection, results were all over the map.
In short: identification problems show up more often than threshold problems.
How this fits with other research
Laugeson et al. (2014) tested vision in autism and found no super-vision once distance was fixed.
Bouck et al. (2016) found adults with ASD locate sounds less well, pointing to a Bayesian processing issue.
These studies line up with Bao et al. (2017): when you tighten the methods, basic sensory thresholds often look normal, but higher-level tasks like naming or locating can still lag.
The pattern suggests the sensory story in ASD is more about processing than raw detection.
Why it matters
If a client refuses foods or covers their nose, do not assume they have super-senses.
Test naming first, not just yes/no smells.
Use picture cards or forced-choice tasks before you try threshold kits.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Olfaction and gustation are major sensory functions implied in processing environmental stimuli. Some evidences suggest that loss of olfactory function is an early biomarker for neurodegenerative disorders and atypical processing of odor and taste stimuli is present in several neurodevelopmental disorders, notably in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this paper, we conducted a systematic review investigating the assessments of olfaction and gustation with psychophysics methods in individuals with ASD. Pubmed, PMC and Sciencedirect were scrutinized for relevant literature published from 1970 to 2015. In this review, fourteen papers met our inclusion criteria. They were analyzed critically in order to evaluate the occurrence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in ASD, as well as to report the methods used to assess olfaction and gustation in such conditions. Regarding to these two senses, the overall number of studies is low. Most of studies show significant difference regarding to odor or taste identification but not for detection threshold. Overall, odor rating through pleasantness, intensity and familiarity do not differ significantly between control and individuals with ASD. The current evidences can suggest the presence of olfactory and gustatory dysfunction in ASD. Therefore, our analysis show a heterogeneity of findings. This is due to several methodological limitations such as the tools used or population studied. Understanding these disorders could help to shed light on other atypical behavior in this population such as feeding or social behavior. Autism Res 2017, 0: 000-000. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1045-1057. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2017 · doi:10.1002/aur.1760