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Subri S, Palumbo L, Gowen E. Symmetry Detection in Autistic Adults Benefits from Local Processing in a Contour Integration Task. J Autism Dev Disord 2023:10.1007/s10803-023-06093-5. [PMID: 37642870 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06093-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Symmetry studies in autism are inconclusive possibly due to different types of stimuli used which depend on either local or global cues. Therefore, this study compared symmetry detection between 20 autistic and 18 non-autistic adults matched on age, IQ, gender and handedness, using contour integration tasks containing open and closed contours that rely more on local or global processing respectively. Results showed that the autistic group performed equally well with both stimuli and outperformed the non-autistic group only for the open contours, possibly due to a different strategy used in detecting symmetry. However, there were no group differences for the closed contour. Results explain discrepant findings in previous symmetry studies suggesting that symmetry tasks that favour a local strategy may be advantageous for autistic individuals. Implications of the findings towards understanding visual sensory issues in this group are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Subri
- Center of Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Selangor, 42300, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
| | - Letizia Palumbo
- Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Emma Gowen
- Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
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Mihaylova MS, Bocheva NB, Totev TT, Staykova SN. Visual Noise Effect on Contour Integration and Gaze Allocation in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:623663. [PMID: 33633537 PMCID: PMC7900628 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.623663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Contradictory results have been obtained in the studies that compare contour integration abilities in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) and typically developing individuals. The present study aimed to explore the limiting factors of contour integration ability in ASD and verify the role of the external visual noise by a combination of psychophysical and eye-tracking approaches. To this aim, 24 children and adolescents with ASD and 32 age-matched participants with typical development had to detect the presence of contour embedded among similar Gabor elements in a Yes/No procedure. The results obtained showed that the responses in the group with ASD were not only less accurate but also were significantly slower compared to the control group at all noise levels. The detection performance depended on the group differences in addition to the effect of the intellectual functioning of the participants from both groups. The comparison of the agreement and accuracy of the responses in the double-pass experiment showed that the results of the participants with ASD are more affected by the increase of the external noise. It turned out that the internal noise depends on the level of the added external noise: the difference between the two groups was non-significant at the low external noise and significant at the high external noise. In accordance with the psychophysical results, the eye-tracking data indicated a larger gaze allocation area in the group with autism. These findings may imply higher positional uncertainty in ASD due to the inability to maintain the information of the contour location from previous presentations and interference from noise elements in the contour vicinity. Psychophysical and eye-tracking data suggest lower efficiency in using stimulus information in the ASD group that could be caused by fixation instability and noisy and unstable perceptual template that affects noise filtering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milena Slavcheva Mihaylova
- Department of Sensory Neurobiology, Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Nadejda Bogdanova Bocheva
- Department of Sensory Neurobiology, Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Tsvetalin Totev Totev
- Department of Sensory Neurobiology, Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
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Gowen E, Jachim S, Subri S, Dickinson C, Hamblin-Pyke B, Warren PA. Collinear facilitation and contour integration in autistic adults: Examining lateral and feedback connectivity. Vision Res 2020; 177:56-67. [PMID: 32977182 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2020.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Alongside difficulties with communication and social interaction, autism is often accompanied by unusual sensory and perceptual experiences including enhanced visual performance on tasks that involve separating local parts from global context. This superiority may be the result of atypical integrative processing, involving feedback and lateral connections between visual neurons. The current study investigated the integrity of these connections in autistic adults by examining two psychophysics tasks that rely on these processes - collinear facilitation and contour integration. The relative contribution of feedback and lateral connectivity was studied by altering the timing of the target relative to the flankers in the collinear facilitation task, in 16 autistic and 16 non-autistic adults. There were no significant differences in facilitation between the autistic and non-autistic groups, indicating that for this task and participant sample, lateral and feedback connectivity appear relatively intact in autistic individuals. Contour integration was examined in a different group of 20 autistic and 18 non-autistic individuals, for open and closed contours to assess the closure effect (improved detection of closed compared to open contours). Autistic individuals showed a reduced closure effect at both short (150 ms) and longer (500 ms) stimulus presentation durations that was driven by better performance of the autistic group for the open contours. These results suggest that reduced closure in a simple contour detection paradigm is unlikely to be due to slower global processing. Reduced closure has implications for understanding sensory overload by contributing to reduced figure-ground segregation of salient visual features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Gowen
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
| | - Stephen Jachim
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Sabrina Subri
- Center of Optometry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, UiTM Cawangan Selangor, 42300 Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Christine Dickinson
- Division of Optometry, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Benjamin Hamblin-Pyke
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Paul A Warren
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
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Tullo D, Perico C, Faubert J, Bertone A. Multiple object-tracking isolates feedback-specific load in attention and learning. J Vis 2020; 20:9. [PMID: 32441736 PMCID: PMC7409588 DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.5.9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2019] [Accepted: 03/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Feedback is beneficial for learning. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether (i) feedback draws attentional resources when integrated and (ii) the benefits of feedback for learning can be demonstrated using an attention-based task. We therefore (i) isolated feedback-specific load from task-specific load via individual differences in attention resource capacity and (ii) examined the effect of trial-by-trial feedback (i.e., present vs. absent) on learning a multiple object-tracking (MOT) paradigm. We chose MOT because it is a robust measure of attention resource capacity. In Study 1 participants tracked one (i.e., lowest attentional load condition) through four target items (i.e., highest load condition) among eight total items. One group (n = 32) received trial-by-trial feedback whereas the other group (n = 32) did not. The absence of feedback resulted in better MOT performance compared with the presence of feedback. Moreover, the difference in MOT capability between groups increased as the task-specific attentional load increased. These findings suggest that feedback integration requires attentional resources. Study 2 examined whether the absence (n = 19) or presence (n = 19) of feedback affects learning on the same MOT task across four testing days. When holding task-specific load constant, improvement in MOT was greater with feedback than without. Although this study is the first to isolate feedback-specific load in attention with MOT, more evidence is needed to demonstrate how the benefits of feedback translate to improvement on an attention-based task. These findings encourage future research to further explore the interaction between feedback, attention and learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Domenico Tullo
- Department of Education & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Chiara Perico
- Department of Education & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Jocelyn Faubert
- École d'optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Armando Bertone
- Department of Education & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Neufeld J, Hagström A, Van't Westeinde A, Lundin K, Cauvet É, Willfors C, Isaksson J, Lichtenstein P, Bölte S. Global and local visual processing in autism - a co-twin-control study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2020; 61:470-479. [PMID: 31452200 PMCID: PMC7155117 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with altered global and local visual processing. However, the nature of these alterations remains controversial, with contradictory findings and notions ranging from a reduced drive to integrate information into a coherent 'gestalt' ("weak central coherence" = WCC) to an enhanced perceptual functioning (EPF) in local processing. METHODS This study assessed the association between autism and global/local visual processing, using a large sample of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins (N = 290, 48% females, age = 8-31 years). The Fragmented Pictures Test (FPT) assessed global processing, whereas local processing was estimated with the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) and the Block Design Test (BDT). Autism was assessed both categorically (clinical diagnosis), and dimensionally (autistic traits). Associations between visual tasks and autism were estimated both across the cohort and within-twin pairs where all factors shared between twins are implicitly controlled. RESULTS Clinical diagnosis and autistic traits predicted a need for more visual information for gestalt processing in the FPT across the cohort. For clinical diagnosis, this association remained within-pairs and at trend-level even within MZ twin pairs alone. ASD and higher autistic traits predicted lower EFT and BDT performance across the cohort, but these associations were lost within-pairs. CONCLUSIONS In line with the WCC account, our findings indicate an association between autism and reduced global visual processing in children, adolescents and young adults (but no evidence for EPF). Observing a similar association within MZ twins suggests a non-shared environmental contribution.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Neufeld
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden
| | - A. Hagström
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden
| | - A. Van't Westeinde
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden,Department of Women's and Children's HealthUnit of Pediatric EndocrinologyKarolinska University HospitalKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden
| | - K. Lundin
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden
| | - É. Cauvet
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden
| | - C. Willfors
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden,Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Rare DiseasesKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden
| | - J. Isaksson
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden,Department of Neuroscience, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry UnitUppsala UniversityUppsalaSweden
| | - P. Lichtenstein
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and BiostatisticsKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden
| | - S. Bölte
- Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND)Centre for Psychiatry ResearchDepartment of Women's and Children's HealthKarolinska InstitutetStockholm Health Care Services, Region StockholmStockholmSweden,Curtin Autism Research GroupEssential Partner Autism CRCSchool of Occupational Therapy, Social Work and Speech PathologyCurtin UniversityPerthWAAustralia
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Sapey-Triomphe LA, Boets B, Van Eylen L, Noens I, Sunaert S, Steyaert J, Wagemans J. Ventral stream hierarchy underlying perceptual organization in adolescents with autism. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 25:102197. [PMID: 32014827 PMCID: PMC6997624 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Revised: 01/22/2020] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Object recognition relies on a hierarchically organized ventral visual stream, with both bottom-up and top-down processes. Here, we aimed at investigating the neural underpinnings of perceptual organization along the ventral visual stream in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and at determining whether this would be associated with decreased top-down processing in ASD. Nineteen typically developing (TD) adolescents and sixteen adolescents with ASD participated in an fMRI study where they had to detect visual objects. Five conditions displayed Gabor patterns (defined by texture and/or contour) with increasing levels of perceptual organization. In each condition, both groups showed similar abilities. In line with the expected cortical hierarchy, brain activity patterns revealed a progressive involvement of regions, from low-level occipital regions to higher-level frontal regions, when stimuli became more and more organized. The brain patterns were generally similar in both groups, but the ASD group showed greater activation than TD participants in the middle occipital gyrus and lateral occipital complex when perceiving fully organized everyday objects. Effective connectivity analyses suggested that top-down functional connections between the lower levels of the cortical hierarchy were less influenced by the meaning carried by the stimuli in the ASD group than in the TD group. We hypothesize that adolescents with ASD may have been less influenced by top-down processing when perceiving recognizable objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurie-Anne Sapey-Triomphe
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Bart Boets
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium; Center for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7h, PB 7001, Leuven 3000, Belgium.
| | - Lien Van Eylen
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium; Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Ilse Noens
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium; Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | | | - Jean Steyaert
- Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium; Center for Developmental Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Kapucijnenvoer 7h, PB 7001, Leuven 3000, Belgium
| | - Johan Wagemans
- Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Department of Brain and Cognition, Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium; Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
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Hadad BS, Russo N, Kimchi R, Babineau V, Burack JA. Typical Utilization of Gestalt Grouping Cues in Shape Perception by Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Perception 2019; 48:1175-1196. [PMID: 31554476 DOI: 10.1177/0301006619874681] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The common finding of better locally oriented perception among persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is based on evidence from paradigms in which hierarchical stimuli are used to pit local and global processes against one another. However, in most cases, determining whether group differences reflect reduced global processing, enhanced local processing, or both is difficult. To provide more conclusive evidence for global perception in ASD, we examined shape formation and sensitivity to Gestalt heuristics. Children with persons with ASD and mental age matched typically developing children completed tasks in which the organization of contour segments into a shape was likely to depend on utilizing cues of closure, spatial proximity, and collinearity. In Experiment 1, search efficiency was measured, with the efficiency of the global organization indicated by the slope of the best-fitting linear reaction-time function over the number of presented items. In Experiment 2, contour integration task was administered, while Gestalt cues and the contour to background spacing ratio were manipulated independently. The findings indicated typical shape formation among the persons with ASD. Furthermore, certain interactive relations between Gestalt grouping cues that are known to govern shape formation in typically developing individuals determined the extraction of the global shape among the participants with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Natalie Russo
- Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA
| | - Ruth Kimchi
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Vanessa Babineau
- Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Jacob A Burack
- Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
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van den Boomen C, Fahrenfort JJ, Snijders TM, Kemner C. Slow segmentation of faces in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Neuropsychologia 2019; 127:1-8. [PMID: 30768937 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2018] [Revised: 02/08/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Atypical visual segmentation, affecting object perception, might contribute to face processing problems in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The current study investigated impairments in visual segmentation of faces in ASD. Thirty participants (ASD: 16; Control: 14) viewed texture-defined faces, houses, and homogeneous images, while electroencephalographic and behavioral responses were recorded. The ASD group showed slower face-segmentation related brain activity and longer segmentation reaction times than the control group, but no difference in house-segmentation related activity or behavioral performance. Furthermore, individual differences in face-segmentation but not house-segmentation correlated with score on the Autism Quotient. Segmentation is thus selectively impaired for faces in ASD, and relates to the degree of ASD traits. Face segmentation relates to recurrent connectivity from the fusiform face area (FFA) to the visual cortex. These findings thus suggest that atypical connectivity from the FFA might contribute to delayed face processing in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- C van den Boomen
- Dept. of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; Dept. of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands.
| | - J J Fahrenfort
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - T M Snijders
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6500 AH Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour; Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - C Kemner
- Dept. of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; Dept. of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, the Netherlands; Dept. of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, 3584 CX Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Laeng B, Færevaag FS, Tanggaard S, von Tetzchner S. Pupillary Responses to Illusions of Brightness in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Iperception 2018; 9:2041669518771716. [PMID: 29796241 PMCID: PMC5960863 DOI: 10.1177/2041669518771716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2017] [Accepted: 03/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies indicate that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not experience optical illusions in the same manner as individuals with typical development. This study uses pupillary responses as an objective measure of perception of visual illusions, with the hypothesis that adults with ASD will show weaker pupillary constrictions to the illusions than adults without ASD. An eye-tracker was used to investigate the spontaneous pupillary changes to brightness illusions in adults diagnosed with ASD (N = 11) and in a control group (N = 24). Contrary to the hypothesis, the ASD group showed similar pupillary constrictions to the illusory bright stimuli as the control group. Therefore, this study does not support the idea that individuals with ASD have a veridical perception of these types of illusions and instead suggest that atypical perception of illusions does not constitute a universal characteristic of aspect of high-functioning individuals with ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway
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10
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Abstract
Frith's original notion of 'weak central coherence' suggested that increased local processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) resulted from reduced global processing. More recent accounts have emphasised superior local perception and suggested intact global integration. However, tasks often place local and global processing in direct trade-off, making it difficult to determine whether group differences reflect reduced global processing, increased local processing, or both. We present two measures of global integration in which poor performance could not reflect increased local processing. ASD participants were slower to identify fragmented figures and less sensitive to global geometric impossibility than IQ-matched controls. These findings suggest that reduced global integration comprises one important facet of weak central coherence in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rhonda D L Booth
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry Section, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK.
- MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
| | - Francesca G E Happé
- MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK
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Evers K, Van der Hallen R, Noens I, Wagemans J. Perceptual Organization in Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder. CHILD DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVES 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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12
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Tops W, Van Den Bergh A, Noens I, Baeyens D. A multi-method assessment of study strategies in higher education students with an autism spectrum disorder. LEARNING AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.lindif.2017.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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13
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Behavioral evidence for a functional link between low- and mid-level visual perception in the autism spectrum. Neuropsychologia 2015; 77:380-6. [PMID: 26384775 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.09.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2015] [Revised: 08/28/2015] [Accepted: 09/11/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Most investigations of visuo-perceptual abilities in the Autism Spectrum (AS) are level-specific, using tasks that selectively solicit either lower- (i.e., spatial frequency sensitivity), mid- (i.e., pattern discrimination) or higher-level processes (i.e., face identification) along the visual hierarchy. Less is known about how alterations at one level of processing (i.e., low-level) interact with that of another (i.e., mid-level). The aim of this study was to assess whether manipulating the physical properties (luminance vs texture) of local contour elements of a mid-level, visual pattern interferes with the discrimination of that pattern in a differential manner for individuals with AS. METHODS Twenty-nine AS individuals and thirty control participants (range 14-27 years) were asked to discriminate between perfect circles and Radial Frequency Patterns (RFP) of two, three, five, and 10 radial frequencies (RF), or deformations along the pattern's contour. When RFP have few deformations (<five RF), a global, pattern analysis is needed for shape discrimination. Conversely, when RFP contain many deformations (≥10 RF), discrimination is dependent on the analysis of local deformations along the RFP contour. The effect of manipulating RF on RFP discrimination was assessed for RFP whose local contour elements were defined by either luminance or texture information, the latter previously found less efficiently processed in AS individuals. RESULTS Two separate mixed factorial ANOVAs [2 (Group)×4 (RF)] were conducted on mean deformation thresholds for luminance- and texture-defined conditions. A significant Group×RF interaction was found for the luminance-defined condition where thresholds were higher in the AS group for the two and three RF conditions; no between-group differences were found for the five and 10 RF conditions. A significant main effect of group was identified for the texture-defined condition, where mean thresholds were higher for the AS group across all RF conditions assessed (two, three, five and 10); a Group×RF interaction effect was not found. Performance for each RFP condition was not affected across group by either chronological age or intelligence, as measured by either Weschler scales or Raven Progressive Matrices. CONCLUSIONS The ability of AS individuals to discriminate a circular pattern is differentially affected by the availability (number of deformations along the RFP contour) and type (luminance vs texture) of local, low-level elements defining its contour. Performance is unaffected in AS when RFP discrimination is dependent on the analysis of local deformations of luminance-defined contour elements, but decreased across all RF conditions when local contour elements are texture-defined. These results suggest that efficient pattern perception in AS is functionally related to the efficacy with which its local elements are processed, indicative of an early origin for altered mid-level, pattern perception in AS.
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Vanmarcke S, Van Der Hallen R, Evers K, Noens I, Steyaert J, Wagemans J. Ultra-Rapid Categorization of Meaningful Real-Life Scenes in Adults With and Without ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 46:450-66. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2583-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
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15
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Van Eylen L, Boets B, Steyaert J, Wagemans J, Noens I. Local and Global Visual Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Influence of Task and Sample Characteristics and Relation to Symptom Severity. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 48:1359-1381. [DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2526-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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16
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Jachim S, Warren PA, McLoughlin N, Gowen E. Collinear facilitation and contour integration in autism: evidence for atypical visual integration. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:115. [PMID: 25805985 PMCID: PMC4354276 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2014] [Accepted: 02/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, atypical communication and a restricted repertoire of interests and activities. Altered sensory and perceptual experiences are also common, and a notable perceptual difference between individuals with ASD and controls is their superior performance in visual tasks where it may be beneficial to ignore global context. This superiority may be the result of atypical integrative processing. To explore this claim we investigated visual integration in adults with ASD (diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome) using two psychophysical tasks thought to rely on integrative processing-collinear facilitation and contour integration. We measured collinear facilitation at different flanker orientation offsets and contour integration for both open and closed contours. Our results indicate that compared to matched controls, ASD participants show (i) reduced collinear facilitation, despite equivalent performance without flankers; and (ii) less benefit from closed contours in contour integration. These results indicate weaker visuospatial integration in adults with ASD and suggest that further studies using these types of paradigms would provide knowledge on how contextual processing is altered in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Jachim
- Faculty of Life Sciences, University of ManchesterManchester, UK
| | - Paul A. Warren
- Psychological Sciences, University of ManchesterManchester, UK
| | - Niall McLoughlin
- Faculty of Life Sciences, University of ManchesterManchester, UK
| | - Emma Gowen
- Faculty of Life Sciences, University of ManchesterManchester, UK
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Burnett HG, Panis S, Wagemans J, Jellema T. Impaired identification of impoverished animate but not inanimate objects in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2014; 8:52-60. [PMID: 25256015 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1412] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2014] [Accepted: 08/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The ability to identify animate and inanimate objects from impoverished images was investigated in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFA) and in matched typically developed (TD) adults, using a newly developed task. Consecutive frames were presented containing Gabor elements that slightly changed orientation from one frame to the next. For a subset of elements, the changes were such that these elements gradually formed the outline of an object. Elements enclosed within the object's outline gradually adopted one and the same orientation, outside elements adopted random orientations. The subjective experience was that of an object appearing out of a fog. The HFA group required significantly more frames to identify the impoverished objects than the TD group. Crucially, this difference depended on the nature of the objects: the HFA group required significantly more frames to identify animate objects, but with respect to the identification of inanimate objects the groups did not differ. The groups also did not differ with respect to the number and type of incorrect guesses they made. The results suggest a specific impairment in individuals with HFA in identifying animate objects. A number of possible explanations are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hollie G Burnett
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
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