1
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Givon-Benjio N, Sokolover H, Aderka IM, Hadad BS, Okon-Singer H. Perception of interpersonal distance and social distancing before and during COVID-19 pandemic. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4568. [PMID: 38403693 PMCID: PMC10894866 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55218-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Since COVID-19 is easily transmitted among people in close physical proximity, the focus of epidemiological policy during the COVID-19 crisis included major restrictions on interpersonal distance. However, the way in which distance restrictions affected spatial perception is unclear. In the current study, we examined interpersonal distance preferences and perceptions at three time points: pre-pandemic, early post-pandemic, and late post-pandemic. The results indicate that following the pandemic outbreak, people perceived others as farther away than they actually were, suggesting that the distance restrictions were associated with an enlargement of perceived interpersonal distance. Interestingly, however, people maintained the same distance from one another as before the outbreak, indicating no change in actual distance behavior due to the risk of infection. These findings suggest that COVID-19 was associated with a change in the way distance is perceived, while in practice, people maintain the same distance as before. In contrast, COVID-related anxiety predicted both a preference for maintaining a greater distance and a bias toward underestimating perceived distance from others. Thus, individuals who were highly fearful of COVID-19 perceived other people to be closer than they actually were and preferred to maintain a larger distance from them. The results suggest that subjective risk can lead to an increased perception of danger and a subsequent change in behavior. Taken together, even when behaviors should logically change, the decision-making process can be based on distorted perceptions. This insight may be used to predict public compliance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nur Givon-Benjio
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
| | - Hili Sokolover
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Idan M Aderka
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Hadas Okon-Singer
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- The Integrated Brain and Behavior Center (IBBRC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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2
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Karsh N, Hartston M, Hadad BS. Atypical Impact of Action Effect Delay on Motor Performance in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2024:10.1007/s10803-023-06227-9. [PMID: 38316696 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06227-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Atypical sensory perception and motor impairments are primary features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that indicate atypical development and predict social and non-social challenges. However, their link is poorly understood. Sensory perception is often integrated with motor processes when a sensory effect is temporally contiguous with the motor response. Such sensory-motor coupling further improves motor behavior. Previous studies indicate alterations in sensory perception of action-effect temporal contiguity in ASD, which bares the question of how it may impact motor performance. People diagnosed with ASD and typically developed (TD) participants performed a speeded reaction-time task previously established to capture the facilitating impact of action's perceptual effect on motor response selection. The sensitivity of this mechanism to delays in the effect was measured, manipulating the action-effect temporal contiguity in a within-subject design. An immediate action effect (compared to a No-effect condition) facilitated response selection in the TD group. This facilitation effect was evident in the ASD group but did not show the typical sensitivity to the effect delay. While in the TD group, RT was shorter in the short (225ms) compared to the long (675ms) action effect delay condition, this distinguished pattern was absent in the ASD group. The findings provide supporting evidence that atypical motor performance in ASD results, at least in part, from an altered sensory perception of action effect temporal contiguity. We discuss the results in light of the reduced perceptual specialization account in ASD and its potential for undermining adaptive sensorimotor processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noam Karsh
- Department of Psychology, Tel-Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel.
- Special Population Advance Research and Clinical Center (SPARC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
| | - Marissa Hartston
- Special Population Advance Research and Clinical Center (SPARC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Special Population Advance Research and Clinical Center (SPARC), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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3
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Lulav-Bash T, Avidan G, Hadad BS. Refinement of face representations by exposure reveals different time scales of biases in face processing. Psychon Bull Rev 2024; 31:196-208. [PMID: 37495928 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02314-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
Experience modulates face processing abilities so that face discrimination and recognition improve with development, especially for more frequently experienced faces (e.g., own-race faces). Although advanced models describe how experience generally modulates perception, the mechanism by which exposure refines internal perceptual representations of faces is unknown. To address this issue, we investigated the effect of short- and long-term experienced stimulus history on face processing. Participants performed same-different judgments in a serial discrimination task where two consecutive faces were drawn from a distribution of morphed faces. Use of stimulus statistics was measured by testing the gravitation of face representations towards the mean of a range of morphed faces around which they were sampled (regression-to-the-mean). The results demonstrated regression of face representations towards the experienced mean and the retention of stimulus statistics over days. In trials where regression facilitated discrimination, the bias diminished the otherwise disadvantage of other-race over own-races faces. The dynamics of the perceptual bias, probed by trial-by-trial performance, further indicated different timescales of the bias, depending on perceptual expertise: people with weak face-recognition skills showed the use of a stable reference, built on long-term statistics accumulated over many trials, along with an updating of this reference by recent trials. In contrast, the strong face recognizers showed a different pattern where sequential effects mostly contributed to discrimination, with relatively minimal reliance on the long-term average for other-race faces. The findings suggest a mechanism by which exposure refines face representations and reveal, for the first time in adults, associations between levels of specialization of perceptual representations and the extent to which these representations become narrowly tuned.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tal Lulav-Bash
- Department of Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, 3498838, Haifa, Israel
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, 3498838, Haifa, Israel.
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
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4
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Binur N, Hadad BS. Contextual effects on duration perception are modality-specific. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2023; 49:1420-1429. [PMID: 37870821 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
The perception of magnitude, crucial for a mental representation of the physical world, is often subject to significant biases. Many of these biases are similar across sensory modalities, implying a generalized perception of magnitude. At the same time, some physical magnitudes might have a dedicated modality-specific calibration mechanism to enhance perceptual sensitivity. We examined this question of generalized versus modality-specific processes testing between- and within-modalities' contextual effects on the perception of magnitude. In a constant stimuli procedure, a central standard was embedded in shorter and longer contextual standards. These contextual standards were sampled in either a relatively wider or narrower range of durations. Participants were asked to determine which of the two consecutive durations was longer. Better perceptual sensitivity was found for narrower contexts, with stronger effects in trials in which the standard was presented first. Interestingly, narrower context enhanced sensitivity for standards within the same modality but had no effect on standards of another modality. A unidirectional transfer of contextual effects was observed under certain conditions from auditory, the dominant modality in performing temporal judgments, to vision. These results suggest that the perceptual system appears to develop modality-specific calibration mechanisms, most likely, to enhance perceptual sensitivity and maintain sensory specialization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Nahal Binur
- Department of Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa
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5
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Karsh N, Ahmad Z, Erez F, Hadad BS. An effect that counts: Temporally contiguous action effect enhances motor performance. Psychon Bull Rev 2023:10.3758/s13423-023-02387-y. [PMID: 37798417 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02387-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
An action-effect temporal contiguity holds essential information for motor control. Emerging accounts suggest that the temporally contiguous action effect is rewarding in and of itself, further promoting the development of motor representations and reinforcing the selection of the relevant motor program. The current study follows these theoretical and empirical indications to directly investigate the promoting impact of action effect temporal contiguity on motor performance. In two experiments, participants rapidly moved toward a target location on a computer monitor and clicked on the target with their mouse key as quickly and accurately as possible. Their click response triggered a perceptual effect (a brief flash) on the target. To examine the impact of action-effect delay and its temporal contiguity context, we manipulated action-effect delay in two temporal contiguity contexts-long versus short lag conditions. The findings demonstrate that the temporally contiguous perceptual effect enhances motor performance as indicated by end-point precision and movement speed. In addition, a substantial impact of the temporal contiguity context was observed. Namely, we found enhanced motor performance after an ambiguous (300 ms) action-effect delay sampled from short compared to long lag distributions (Experiment 1). This pattern was inconclusive for an immediate action effect (Experiment 2). We discuss the findings in the context of reinforcement from action effect and movement control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noam Karsh
- Department of Psychology, Tel-Hai Academic College, Qiryat Shemona, Israel.
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
| | - Zoha Ahmad
- Department of Biology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Freud Erez
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education and Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Centre, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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6
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Gabay Y, Reinisch E, Even D, Binur N, Hadad BS. Intact Utilization of Contextual Information in Speech Categorization in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2023:10.1007/s10803-023-06106-3. [PMID: 37787847 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-023-06106-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023]
Abstract
Current theories of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) suggest atypical use of context in ASD, but little is known about how these atypicalities influence speech perception. We examined the influence of contextual information (lexical, spectral, and temporal) on phoneme categorization of people with ASD and in typically developed (TD) people. Across three experiments, we found that people with ASD used all types of contextual information for disambiguating speech sounds to the same extent as TD; yet they exhibited a shallower identification curve when phoneme categorization required temporal processing. Overall, the results suggest that the observed atypicalities in speech perception in ASD, including the reduced sensitivity observed here, cannot be attributed merely to the limited ability to utilize context during speech perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafit Gabay
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
| | - Eva Reinisch
- Acoustics Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wohllebengasse 12-14, Vienna, 1040, Austria
| | - Dana Even
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Nahal Binur
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, 199 Abba Khoushy Ave, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
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7
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Hartston M, Avidan G, Pertzov Y, Hadad BS. Weaker face recognition in adults with autism arises from perceptually based alterations. Autism Res 2023; 16:723-733. [PMID: 36691922 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Face recognition has been shown to be impaired in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it is still debated whether these face processing deficits arise from perceptually based alterations. We tested individuals with ASD and matched typically developing (TD) individuals using a delayed estimation task in which a single target face was shown either upright or inverted. Participants selected a face that best resembled the target face out of a cyclic space of morphed faces. To enable the disentanglement of visual from mnemonic processing, reports were required either following a 1 and 6 second retention interval, or simultaneously while the target face was still visible. Individuals with ASD made significantly more errors than TD individuals in both the simultaneous and delayed intervals, indicating that face recognition deficits in autism are also perceptual rather than strictly memory based. Moreover, individuals with ASD exhibited weaker inversion effects than the TD individuals, on all retention intervals. This finding, that was mostly evident in precision errors, suggests that contrary to the more precise representations of upright faces in TD individuals, individuals with ASD exhibit similar levels of precision for inverted and upright faces, for both simultaneous and delayed conditions. These results suggest that weakened memory for faces reported in ASD may be secondary to an underlying perceptual deficit in face processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marissa Hartston
- Department of Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Yoni Pertzov
- Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.,Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Centre, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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8
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Ahmad Z, Karsh N, Ganel T, Hadad BS, Freud E. Visual illusions modulate perception and action in autism spectrum disorder. J Vis 2022. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.14.3573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
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9
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Szpiro S, Twito R, Hadad BS. She still seems angry: inflexibility in updating emotional priors in autism. J Vis 2022. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.14.3508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Sarit Szpiro
- Special Education Department, University of Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Renana Twito
- Special Education Department, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Special Education Department, University of Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Israel
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10
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fazioli L, Denison R, Hadad BS, Yashar A. Whether and how individuals with ASD utilize prior belief during perceptual decision making: Evidence from an orientation categorization task. J Vis 2022. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.14.3537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Amit Yashar
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Boston University
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11
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Hadad BS, Yashar A. Sensory Perception in Autism: What Can We Learn? Annu Rev Vis Sci 2022; 8:239-264. [PMID: 35804481 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-vision-093020-035217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder of unknown etiology. Recently, there has been a growing interest in sensory processing in autism as a core phenotype. However, basic questions remain unanswered. Here, we review the major findings and models of perception in autism and point to methodological issues that have led to conflicting results. We show that popular models of perception in autism, such as the reduced prior hypothesis, cannot explain the many and varied findings. To resolve these issues, we point to the benefits of using rigorous psychophysical methods to study perception in autism. We advocate for perceptual models that provide a detailed explanation of behavior while also taking into account factors such as context, learning, and attention. Furthermore, we demonstrate the importance of tracking changes over the course of development to reveal the causal pathways and compensatory mechanisms. Finally, we propose a developmental perceptual narrowing account of the condition. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 8 is September 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education and The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; ,
| | - Amit Yashar
- Department of Special Education and The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; ,
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12
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Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT Unique perceptual skills and abnormalities in perception have been extensively demonstrated in those with autism for many perceptual domains, accounting, at least in part, for some of the main symptoms. Several new hypotheses suggest that perceptual representations in autism are unrefined, appear less constrained by exposure and regularities of the environment, and rely more on actual concrete input. Consistent with these emerging views, a bottom-up, data-driven fashion of processing has been suggested to account for the atypical perception in autism. It is yet unclear, however, whether reduced effects of prior knowledge and top-down information, or rather reduced noise in the sensory input, account for the often-reported bottom-up mode of processing in autism. We show that neither is sufficiently supported. Instead, we demonstrate clear differences between autistics and neurotypicals in how incoming input is weighted against prior knowledge and experience in determining the final percept. Importantly, the findings tap central differences in perception between those with and without autism that are consistent across identified sub-clusters within each group.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- University of Haifa, Israel.,Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, Israel
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13
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Fooks N, Hadad BS, Rubinsten O. Nonsymbolic-Magnitude Deficit in Adults With Developmental Dyscalculia: Evidence of Impaired Size Discrimination but Intact Size Constancy. Psychol Sci 2021; 32:1271-1284. [PMID: 34287080 DOI: 10.1177/0956797621995204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Although researchers have debated whether a core deficit of nonsymbolic representation of magnitude underlies developmental dyscalculia (DD), research has mostly focused on numerosity processing. We probed the possibility of a general magnitude deficit in individuals with DD and asked whether sensitivity to size varied in contexts of depth ordering and size constancy. We measured full psychometric functions in size-discrimination tasks in 12 participants with DD and 13 control participants. Results showed that although people with DD exhibited veridical perceived magnitude, their sensitivity to size was clearly impaired. In contrast, when objects were embedded in depth cues allowing size-constancy computations, participants with DD demonstrated typical sensitivity to size. These results demonstrate a deficit in the perceptual resolutions of magnitude in DD. At the same time, the finding of an intact size constancy suggests that when magnitude perception is facilitated by implicit mandatory computations of size constancy, this deficit is no longer evident.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nirit Fooks
- Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa.,Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa
| | - Orly Rubinsten
- Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa.,Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa
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14
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Binur N, Hadad BS. Contextual and Anchoring Effects on Perceptual Resolutions and Perceived Magnitudes: Within- and Between-Modalities Effects. J Vis 2020. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.11.1115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Nahal Binur
- Cognitive Developmental Lab, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Cognitive Developmental Lab, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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15
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Ahmad Z, Binur N, Ganel T, Hadad BS, Freud E. Reduced Functional Dissociation Between Action and Perception in Individuals with Autism. J Vis 2020. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.11.1238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Zoha Ahmad
- Centre for Vision Research, York University
| | - Nahal Binur
- Department of Special Education and Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa
| | - Tzvi Ganel
- Department of Psychology and Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education and Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa
| | - Erez Freud
- Centre for Vision Research, York University
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16
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Lulav-Bash T, Avidan G, Binur N, Hadad BS. Regression to the mean enhances perceptual resolutions of face identification. J Vis 2020. [DOI: 10.1167/jov.20.11.1177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Tal Lulav-Bash
- Cognitive Developmental Lab, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Nahal Binur
- Cognitive Developmental Lab, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Cognitive Developmental Lab, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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17
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Freud E, Binur N, Srikanth A, Davidson E, Ganel T, Hadad BS. Double dissociation between perception and action in children. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 201:104986. [PMID: 33011386 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 06/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/12/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated a functional dissociation between vision for perception and vision for action. However, the developmental trajectory of this functional dissociation is not well understood. We directly compared the sensitivity of grasping and perceptual estimations within the same experimental design to the real and illusory sizes of objects positioned in the Ponzo illusion display. Two different-sized objects were placed such that the differences between their real sizes and their perceived sizes were pitted against each other. Children aged 5-8 years and adults made perceptual size discriminations and then grasped (action) or estimated (perception) one of the objects based on its perceived size. Consistent with previous results, for the action task, grasping apertures of adults were scaled with the physical differences in the objects' sizes, even in trials where their overt perceptual decisions were deceived by the illusion. In contrast, perceptual estimations were robustly modulated by the illusion. Interestingly, children outperformed adults in their perceptual discriminations but exhibited adult-like behavior in grasping and in perceptual estimations of the objects, demonstrating a dissociation between perception and action. These results suggest that although the two visual functions are not operating at fully mature levels during childhood, some key mechanisms that support a dissociation between these functions are already in place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erez Freud
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada.
| | - Nahal Binur
- Department of Special Education and The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Ashish Srikanth
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Emily Davidson
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Tzvi Ganel
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8410501, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education and The Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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18
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Shalev T, Schwartz S, Miller P, Hadad BS. Do deaf individuals have better visual skills in the periphery? Evidence from processing facial attributes. Visual Cognition 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2020.1770390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tal Shalev
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Sivan Schwartz
- Department of psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Paul Miller
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Avraam R, Binur N, Hadad BS. Typical perceptual organization in autism: Perceptual grouping and spatial distortion. Autism Res 2019; 12:1623-1635. [PMID: 31190377 DOI: 10.1002/aur.2153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2019] [Revised: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The extensive literature on global-local processing in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has recently shifted from arguing for a processing impairment among those with ASD to positing an attenuated preference for global processing. One suggestion is that the fast extraction of the global gist is less efficient in ASD, in contrast to the superior attention-driven processing of local elements. To examine this claim of attenuated global processing, the present study tested how perceptual grouping affected the global organization of visual scenes, specifically testing the claim of less mandatory, more optional global processing in ASD. Participants judged the distance between grouped and ungrouped elements in displays in which illusory distortions were inherent in configurations exemplifying the Gestalt principles of organization. Results from six experiments manipulating different Gestalt cues showed a consistent pattern, indicating that for individuals with ASD, as for typically developed (TD) individuals, grouping processes are organizational in nature, incorporating the grouping of related elements while parsing these from other unrelated elements. This parsing is accompanied by distortions in the spatial relationships perceived in the visual scene. ASD participants exhibited an overall larger tendency to overestimate the distances, but they also demonstrated typical perceptual organization processes that were robust and mandatory and, as in neurotypicals, affected the perception of the whole scene. Autism Res 2019. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: It is known that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perceive the world in a different way than their typically developed (TD) peers. While TD individuals exhibit strong bias toward processing the global structure of visual scenes, individuals with ASD exhibit enhanced perception of the local elements. We showed that when the local and global levels are not competing, individuals with autism demonstrate robust global organization that operates even when not directly instructed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ravit Avraam
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Nahal Binur
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Abstract
Perceptual atypicalities are a widely acknowledged but poorly understood feature of autism. We demonstrate here a striking violation of one of the most adaptive psychophysical computations - Weber's law - in high-functioning individuals with autism. JNDs based on the best-fitting psychometric functions were measured for size visual judgments (Exp. 1), weight haptic discrimination (Exp. 2), and illusive perception of weight (brightness-weight illusion; Exp. 3). Results for the typically developed group confirmed Weber's law, demonstrating a linear increase in JNDs with intensity, resulting in constant fractions across intensities. The results for the ASD, in contrast, showed no scaling of JNDs with intensity; instead, fractions decreased linearly with intensity. In striking contrast to its consistency in typical perception, Weber's law does not hold for visual and haptic perception in autism. These robust modulations in psychophysical computations, demonstrated for different domains of perception, suggest a modality-independent, low-level mechanism driving altered perception in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Haifa, Isreal.,Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Sivan Schwartz
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
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Abstract
Emerging accounts of autism suggest that flexible and broadly tuned perceptual representations, presumably resulting from reduced specialization, may underlie atypical perception. Here, we examined the other-race effect (ORE) to study face processing specialization arising from specific experience with own-race faces. Face discrimination was tested for own- and other-race faces in typically developed individuals and in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). For each race, faces were morphed to vary discrimination difficulty, and orientation was manipulated to examine inversion effects. The ASD group displayed overall lower sensitivity and reduced inversion effects in processing faces. Importantly, the processing advantage for own-race faces was substantially smaller in this group, resulting specifically from the reduced specialization for the own-race faces. Moreover, the typical larger inversion effect for Caucasian faces was not observed in the ASD group; sensitivity to orientation was smaller and equivalent for the two face races. These more broadly tuned representations in autism may account for the overall weaker representations of faces and suggest, more broadly, that a failure in perceptual specialization may underlie atypical perception in autism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa
| | - Sivan Schwartz
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa
| | - Nahal Binur
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa
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Abstract
Recent studies on the development of face processing argue for a late, quantitative, domain-specific development of face processing, and face memory in particular. Most previous findings were based on separately tracking the developmental course of face perception skills, comparing performance across different age groups. Here, we adopted a different approach studying the mechanisms underlying the development of face processing by focusing on how different face skills are interrelated over the years (age 6 to adulthood). Specifically, we examined correlations within and between different categories of tasks: face domain-specific skills involving face recognition based on long-term representations (famous face), and short-term memory retention (Cambridge Face Memory Test), perceptual face-specific marker (inversion effect), global effects in scene perception (global–local task), and the perception of facial expressions. Factor analysis revealed that face identity skills have a similar pattern of interrelations throughout development, identifying two factors: a face domain-specific factor comprising adultlike markers of face processing and a general factor incorporating related, but nonspecific perceptual skills. Domain-specific age-related changes in face recognition entailing short- and long-term retention of face representations were observed, along with mature perceptual face-specific markers and more general perceptual effects predicting face perception skills already at age 6. The results suggest that the domain-specific changes in face processing are unlikely to result from developmental changes in perceptual skills driving face recognition. Instead, development may either involve improvement in the ability to retain face representations in memory or changes in the interactions between the perceptual representations of faces and their representations in long-term memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elite Mardo
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel
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Abstract
Ample evidence suggests that emotion affects visual perception. Here we asked how arousal, induced by emotional stimuli and modulated by anxiety trait, biases competition among stimuli to favor the perceptually conspicuous ones. We first demonstrated that negatively arousing pictures impaired subsequent discrimination of cars, but not the discrimination of faces, among individuals with high-trait anxiety. To directly demonstrate the role of attention in the emotional modulations of visual perception, we used a modified exogenous cuing task, showing that for anxious individuals, a negatively arousing cue elicited cost when processing cars but not faces. These results indicate that arousal biases attention toward perceptually salient stimuli, allowing those with high-trait anxiety to disengage attention from an arousing stimulus more easily when it is followed by a face. The results suggest that attention modulates the effects of emotion on perception, leading to higher resilience of high-priority stimuli to arousal-biased competition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Elite Mardo
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa
| | | | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
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Hadad BS, Maurer D, Lewis TL. The role of early visual input in the development of contour interpolation: the case of subjective contours. Dev Sci 2016; 20. [PMID: 26743221 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2015] [Accepted: 10/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
We tested the effect of early monocular and binocular deprivation of normal visual input on the development of contour interpolation. Patients deprived from birth by dense central cataracts in one or both eyes, and age-matched controls, discriminated between fat and thin shapes formed by either illusory or luminance-defined contours. Thresholds indicated the minimum amount of curvature (the fatness or thinness) required for discrimination of the illusory shape, providing a measure of the precision of interpolation. The results show that individuals deprived of visual input in one eye, but not those deprived in both eyes, later show deficits in perceptual interpolation. The deficits were shown mostly for weakly supported contours in which interpolation of contours between the inducers was over a large distance relative to the size of the inducers. Deficits shown for the unilateral but not for the bilateral patients point to the detrimental effect of unequal competition between the eyes for cortical connections on the later development of the mechanisms underlying contour interpolation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, Department of Special Education, University of Haifa, Israel
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Hadad BS, Ziv Y. Strong Bias Towards Analytic Perception in ASD Does not Necessarily Come at the Price of Impaired Integration Skills. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 45:1499-512. [PMID: 25518823 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2293-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
We first demonstrated analytic processing in ASD under conditions in which integral processing seems mandatory in TD observers, a pattern that is often taken to indicate a local default processing in ASD. However, this processing bias does not inevitably come at the price of impaired integration skills. Indeed, examining the same group of individuals with ASD on a task with explicit demands for integrated representations, Experiment 2 showed that the same observers with ASD demonstrated intact spatial integration. The results further showed that performance was not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively comparable to that of TD observers, demonstrating the sensitivity of integration in ASD to the same interactive effects of Gestalt cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Special Education, Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, 31905, Haifa, Israel,
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Freud E, Hadad BS, Avidan G, Ganel T. Evidence for similar early but not late representation of possible and impossible objects. Front Psychol 2015; 6:94. [PMID: 25762949 PMCID: PMC4329801 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2014] [Accepted: 01/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The perceptual processes that mediate the ability to efficiently represent object 3D structure are still not fully understood. The current study was aimed to shed light on these processes by utilizing spatially possible and impossible objects that could not be created in real 3D space. Despite being perceived as exceptionally unusual, impossible objects still possess fundamental Gestalt attributes and valid local depth cues that may support their initial successful representation. Based on this notion and on recent findings from our lab, we hypothesized that the initial representation of impossible objects would involve common mechanisms to those mediating typical object perception while the perceived differences between possible and impossible objects would emerge later along the processing hierarchy. In Experiment 1, participants preformed same/different classifications of two markers superimposed on a display containing two objects (possible or impossible). Faster reaction times were observed for displays in which the markers were superimposed on the same object (“object-based benefit”). Importantly, this benefit was similar for possible and impossible objects, suggesting that the representations of the two object categories rely on similar perceptual organization processes. Yet, responses for impossible objects were slower compared to possible objects. Experiment 2 was designed to examine the origin of this effect. Participants classified the location of two markers while exposure duration was manipulated. A similar pattern of performance was found for possible and impossible objects for the short exposure duration, with differences in accuracy between these two types of objects emerging only for longer exposure durations. Overall, these findings provide evidence that the representation of object structure relies on a multi-level process and that object impossibility selectively impairs the rendering of fine-detailed description of object structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erez Freud
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva, Israel ; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center, Faculty of Education, University of Haifa , Haifa, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva, Israel ; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Tzvi Ganel
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva, Israel ; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer-Sheva, Israel
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Hadad BS. Sensitivity of spatial integration to perceptual cues is preserved in healthy aging. Vision Res 2012; 60:1-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2012.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2011] [Revised: 02/16/2012] [Accepted: 03/05/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Hadad BS, Maurer D, Lewis TL. The development of contour interpolation: evidence from subjective contours. J Exp Child Psychol 2010; 106:163-76. [PMID: 20227089 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2010.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2009] [Revised: 02/09/2010] [Accepted: 02/10/2010] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Adults are skilled at perceiving subjective contours in regions without any local image information (e.g., Ginsburg, 1975; Kanizsa, 1976). Here we examined the development of this skill and the effect thereon of the support ratio (i.e., the ratio of the physically specified contours to the total contour length). Children (6-, 9-, and 12-year-olds) and adults discriminated between fat and skinny shapes formed by subjective or luminance-defined contours. By 9 years of age, children were as sensitive as adults to small differences in luminance-defined contours, but not until 12 years of age were children as sensitive as adults in performing the same task with subjective contours. Remarkably, 6-year-olds' sensitivity to subjective contours was independent of the support ratio, unlike that of older children and adults. The results suggest that, during middle childhood, the interpolation of subjective contours becomes tied to the support ratio, so that contours that are more likely to reflect the contours of real objects (i.e., highly supported contours) are more easily interpolated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bat-Sheva Hadad
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8S 4K1
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Abstract
Older adults typically exhibit poor sleep efficiency as well as a decline in visual perception. In this study, the authors investigated whether late-life insomnia is associated with age-related changes in visual processing of global and local aspects of hierarchical figures. The study findings suggest that late-life insomnia may be one of the most important factors contributing to the decline of visual processing in older adults. The findings offer hope that treatment of insomnia in older adults could have beneficial effects on improving visual processing in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Haimov
- Department of Behavioral Science, The Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, Israel.
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Hadad BS, Kimchi R. Developmental trends in utilizing perceptual closure for grouping of shape: effects of spatial proximity and collinearity. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007; 68:1264-73. [PMID: 17378413 DOI: 10.3758/bf03193726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In two experiments, visual search was used to study the grouping of shape on the basis of perceptual closure among participants 5-23 years of age. We first showed that young children, like adults, demonstrate an efficient search for a concave target among convex distractors for closed connected stimuli but an inefficient search for open stimuli. Reliable developmental differences, however, were observed in search for fragmented stimuli as a function of spatial proximity and collinearity between the closure-inducing fragments. When only closure was available, search for all the age groups was equally efficient for spatially close fragments and equally inefficient for spatially distant fragments. When closure and collinearity were available, search for spatially close fragments was equally efficient for all the age groups, but search for spatially distant fragments was inefficient for younger children and improved significantly between ages 5 and 10. These findings suggest that young children can utilize closure as efficiently as can adults for the grouping of shape for closed or nearly closed stimuli. When the closure-inducing fragments are spatially distant, only older children and adults, but not 5-year-olds, can utilize collinearity to enhance closure for the perceptual grouping of shape.
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Abstract
We used primed matching to examine the microgenesis of perceptual organization for familiar (upright letters) and unfamiliar (inverted letters) visual configurations that varied in the connectedness between their line components. The configurations of upright letters were available for priming as early as 40 ms, irrespective of connectedness between their line components. The configurations of connected inverted-letter primes were also available this early, but the configurations of disconnected inverted letters were not available until later These results show that past experience contributes to the early grouping of disconnected line segments into configurations. These findings suggest an interactive model of perceptual organization in which both image-based properties (e.g., connectedness) and input from object memories contribute to perceptual organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Kimchi
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel.
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