Psychological and Neural Differences of Music Processing in Autistic Individuals: A Scoping Review.

Researchers looked at how autistic people process music differently by reviewing 75 studies. They found some evidence that autistic individuals may respond differently to sounds and music, have different patterns of music skill development, and use different brain pathways that still lead to similar behaviors. However, the research is still early and has limitations, so more study is needed.

This scoping review examined differences in music processing among autistic individuals by analyzing 75 studies from multiple databases. The research revealed preliminary evidence of distinct music processing patterns in autism, including reduced habituation to both musical and non-musical sounds, altered developmental trajectories for music skills, and potential compensatory neural mechanisms that may produce similar behavioral outcomes despite different brain activation patterns. However, findings are limited by the emerging nature of this research field, predominant use of non-musical stimuli in studies, focus on passive listening rather than active music engagement, and insufficient demographic reporting across studies.

Music therapists should adopt developmental perspectives specific to music skill development in autism and exercise caution when applying these findings clinically. The evidence suggests potential for individualized approaches but requires further research with musical stimuli and active engagement paradigms.

Emerging literature with preliminary findings, predominant use of non-musical auditory stimuli, focus on passive listening experiences rather than active music engagement, and underreported participant demographics across studies limit the strength and generalizability of conclusions.

Despite abundant research and clinical evidence of the effectiveness of music interventions for people in the autism spectrum, understanding of music processing in this community is limited. We explored whether research evidence of differences in music processing within the autistic community is available. We developed a scoping review to search for literature with the terms "music", "processing," and "autism" (and variants). We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycInfo, Academic Search Complete, ERIC, and Music Index databases for a total of 10,857 articles, with 5,236 duplicates.

The remaining 5,621 titles and abstracts were screened for eligibility by a team of four undergraduate and graduate students and the PI. Seventy-five studies were included for data extraction. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics regarding author, study, stimulus, and participant information, and a thematic analysis of outcome and findings. Our findings are preliminary given the emerging nature of the literature, the use of mostly non-musical auditory stimuli, passive listening experiences, and underreported demographics.

However, the literature shows some evidence of differences in music processing for autistic individuals, including reduced habituation to non-musical and musical stimuli; truncated, delayed, or divergent developmental trajectories; and possible compensatory higher-order mechanisms that yield similar behavioral responses even in the presence of divergent neural correlates. Music therapists are encouraged to adopt a developmental perspective, not only of general skills, but specifically of music skill development in this community, and to extrapolate these findings with caution, given the current limitations in the evidence.