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Perception of shapes targeting local and global processes in autism spectrum disorders
Author(s) -
Grinter Emma J.,
Maybery Murray T.,
Pellicano Elizabeth,
Badcock Johanna C.,
Badcock David R.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02203.x
Subject(s) - autism , visual processing , psychology , perception , visual perception , autism spectrum disorder , dorsum , typically developing , cognitive psychology , communication , developmental psychology , neuroscience , biology , anatomy
Background: Several researchers have found evidence for impaired global processing in the dorsal visual stream in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, support for a similar pattern of visual processing in the ventral visual stream is less consistent. Critical to resolving the inconsistency is the assessment of local and global form processing ability. Methods: Within the visual domain, radial frequency (RF) patterns – shapes formed by sinusoidally varying the radius of a circle to add ‘bumps’ of a certain number to a circle – can be used to examine local and global form perception. Typically developing children and children with an ASD discriminated between circles and RF patterns that are processed either locally (RF24) or globally (RF3). Results: Children with an ASD required greater shape deformation to identify RF3 shapes compared to typically developing children, consistent with difficulty in global processing in the ventral stream. No group difference was observed for RF24 shapes, suggesting intact local ventral‐stream processing. Conclusions: These outcomes support the position that a deficit in global visual processing is present in ASDs, consistent with the notion of Weak Central Coherence.