Fig. 4

Interaction between heart rate responses and behavioral inhibition in predicting observed sensory over-responsivity. Figures demonstrate the relationship between (a) orienting slopes (i.e., rate of heart rate deceleration between 0–4 s after stimulus onset) and (b) acceleration slopes (i.e. rate of heart rate acceleration between 4–10 s after stimulus onset) with total auditory and tactile sensory over-responsivity (SOR) behaviors on a standardized observed assessment. In each scatterplot, the ASD participants are split into low (green) and high (purple) reported behavioral inhibition based on parent report. For both orienting and acceleration slopes, heart rate responses were more highly correlated with observed SOR for youth who were rated as less inhibited by their parents