Shlomit Beker
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shlomitbeker.bsky.social
Shlomit Beker
@shlomitbeker.bsky.social
Here for a better, decentralized science communication platform • Asst Prof at Mount Sinai Psychiatry & Neuroscience • Cognitive Neuroscientist • Studying how people with developmental disorders are synched with their environment • www.bekerlab.com
This work suggests that differences in eye activity of children with autism may reflect a broader challenge with aligning internal processes to external events.
September 18, 2025 at 12:09 PM
When the children with ASD engaged with predictable events, modulation of their pupils and microsaccades were reduced. We also found correlations with manual motor behavior.
September 18, 2025 at 12:09 PM
👀 Eye movements aren’t just random. They naturally align with the timing of events around us, to support flexible interaction with the environment.
In autism, we find this basic coupling to be disrupted, highlighting reduced temporal flexibility.
September 18, 2025 at 12:09 PM
With: Sophie Molholm, John J. Foxe, Theo Vanneau, Elizabeth Akinyemi
July 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Not Just Noise: Impaired Oscillatory Entrainment Reflects Reduced Temporal Flexibility in Autism
Rhythmic patterns in the environment enhance neural activity, perception, and action. However, natural rhythms are often imprecise, requiring flexible adaptation. In autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), characterized by cognitive rigidity and atypical use of prior information - favoring immediate sensory input over predictive cues - entrainment to temporally variable input may be reduced at both neural and behavioral levels, though the neural mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we recorded high-density EEG and behavior in adults with ASD (n=20) and neurotypical (NT) controls (n=21) during a visual detection task with four rhythmic structures, parametrically varied from an isochronous fully regular rhythm, to a highly irregular one. Spectral analysis and temporal response function (TRF) models revealed significantly reduced modulation by temporal regularity in ASD, particularly in mildly jittered stimulation streams. Additionally, the coupling between phases of neural oscillations and behavior was diminished in ASD under the jittered conditions, suggesting reduced functional relevance of neural synchronization. Residual spectral power post-stimulation showed lower oscillatory entrainment in ASD, ruling out simple evoked-response explanations. Notably, the degree of neural modulation by temporal regularity was correlated with IQ within the ASD group, suggesting a link between temporal flexibility and individual cognitive profiles. These findings highlight impaired neural entrainment and reduced behavioral modulation by temporal structure in ASD, offering insight into inflexible responses to uncertain, volatile sensory environments. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. IDDRC, HD103536
www.biorxiv.org
July 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
If you know of any available or upcoming positions in your lab or institution, please share the details via the attached Google form. Thanks for helping connect researchers with new opportunities.
June 21, 2025 at 3:51 AM
March 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Unbelievable
February 27, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Beker Neurophysiology and Cognition Lab
www.bekerlab.com
January 9, 2025 at 10:34 PM