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Endogenous Spatial Attention: Evidence for Intact Functioning in Adults With Autism
Author(s) -
Grubb Michael A.,
Behrmann Marlene,
Egan Ryan,
Minshew Nancy J.,
Carrasco Marisa,
Heeger David J.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
autism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.656
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1939-3806
pISSN - 1939-3792
DOI - 10.1002/aur.1269
Subject(s) - autism , psychology , predictability , cognitive psychology , stimulus (psychology) , cognition , visual field , spatial ability , developmental psychology , neuroscience , physics , quantum mechanics
Rapid manipulation of the attention field (i.e. the location and spread of visual spatial attention) is a critical aspect of human cognition, and previous research on spatial attention in individuals with autism spectrum disorders ( ASD ) has produced inconsistent results. In a series of three psychophysical experiments, we evaluated claims in the literature that individuals with ASD exhibit a deficit in voluntarily controlling the deployment and size of the spatial attention field. We measured the spatial distribution of performance accuracies and reaction times to quantify the sizes and locations of the attention field, with and without spatial uncertainty (i.e. the lack of predictability concerning the spatial position of the upcoming stimulus). We found that high‐functioning adults with autism exhibited slower reaction times overall with spatial uncertainty, but the effects of attention on performance accuracies and reaction times were indistinguishable between individuals with autism and typically developing individuals in all three experiments. These results provide evidence of intact endogenous spatial attention function in high‐functioning adults with ASD , suggesting that atypical endogenous attention cannot be a latent characteristic of autism in general. Autism Res 2013, 6: 108–118 . © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.