Data sets and coding scripts for research on sensory processing in ADHD and ASD

<p dir="ltr">Description<br><br>This repository contains all anonymised data and analysis files for a study examining whether clinical diagnosis—beyond self-reported trait severity—differentiates sensory processing profiles in adults with ADHD and ASD. The research tested visual orientation discrimination using a psychophysical two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task with vertical and oblique stimuli, comparing four propensity-matched groups (n = 38 per group): clinical ADHD, non-clinical ADHD, clinical ASD, and non-clinical ASD.</p><h4>Methodology and Techniques</h4><p dir="ltr">Participants completed validated self-report measures: the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and the Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ). Sensory processing was assessed via a method-of-constant-stimuli orientation discrimination task implemented in PsychoPy, using interleaved adaptive staircases following a one-up/three-down rule.</p><p dir="ltr">Propensity score matching (1:1 nearest neighbour, no replacement, 0.20 SD caliper on logit-transformed probabilities) was used to match clinical and non-clinical groups on trait severity. All inferential analyses were performed on the matched samples using ANCOVAs controlling for age and gender. The repository includes raw and matched datasets, analysis outputs, and the full Python code used for the matching pipeline.</p><h4>Ethics and Approval</h4><p dir="ltr">All procedures were approved by the University of Sheffield Department of Psychology Ethics Committee (Ref: 046476). Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and all data have been anonymised following institutional and GDPR requirements.</p><h4>Contents</h4><p dir="ltr">The repository includes:</p><ul><li>Questionnaire data (ASRS, BAPQ)</li><li>Visual orientation discrimination thresholds (vertical and oblique)</li><li>Demographic variables (age, gender)</li><li>Clinical vs. non-clinical group labels</li><li>Propensity score matching files and reproducible Python code</li><li>JASP analysis files and outputs</li><li>Study documentation and methodological details</li></ul><p dir="ltr">These data support the study’s finding that ADHD and ASD show distinct sensory signatures: clinical ADHD was associated with reduced oblique sensitivity, while clinical ASD showed enhanced vertical discrimination relative to matched non-clinical controls. The dataset enables full reproducibility of all analyses and supports further research on sensory processing in neurodevelopmental conditions.</p>