Participants scores on ADHD/ASD/Anxiety/Sensory processing questionnaires collected through Qualtrics

Excel file with participants total scores for subscales and total scales on ADHD/ASD/Anxiety/Sensory processing questionnaires collected through Qualtrics. A second file with the PsychoPy code and set up to run this data on is also added

Study Summary
This study explores the links between sensory processing difficulties and traits associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with a particular focus on the potential mediating role of anxiety. While both conditions have been independently linked to sensory atypicalities, prior psychophysical research has predominantly centred on ASD, leaving a gap in ADHD-focused investigation.

To address this, we employed a visual orientation discrimination task using a method of constant stimuli within a two-alternative forced choice paradigm. An adaptive, randomly interleaved procedure with a one-up, three-down rule was used to determine perceptual thresholds. These thresholds were analysed in relation to individual differences in ADHD, ASD, and anxiety traits through correlational analyses. A mediation model was then applied to assess whether anxiety contributes to the relationship between neurodevelopmental traits and sensory processing.

Our findings show that both ADHD and ASD traits are similarly linked to altered sensory discrimination. However, trait levels of panic and generalised anxiety were specifically connected to the ADHD-Hyperactive dimension and corresponding sensory thresholds. No such anxiety-related effects were observed in association with ASD traits.

These results indicate that anxiety, particularly panic and generalised forms, may serve as a key intermediary factor in the relationship between ADHD traits and sensory function, highlighting the need to consider comorbid psychological factors in sensory research on neurodevelopmental conditions.