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Temporal processing deficits in high‐functioning children with autism
Author(s) -
Szelag Elzbieta,
Kowalska Joanna,
Galkowski Tadeusz,
Pöppel Ernst
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1348/0007126041528167
Subject(s) - psychology , high functioning autism , autism , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , autism spectrum disorder
It is well known that complex functions (e.g. perception, attention, memory, emotions, social interactions and language) are usually disturbed in autism. As these functions are characterized by specific temporal patterns, the present study examined whether children with autism show typical temporal processing in the time domain of a few seconds. Using a temporal‐reproduction paradigm, we found that they were unable to link their responses to stimulus duration. Independently of stimulus duration, they reproduced auditory or visual stimuli with the same response duration of, on average, 3 s. These results demonstrate important deficits in duration judgment in individuals with autism. As other experiments provide evidence for a temporal processing platform of ≅ 2 — 3 s in normal individuals, this platform may be preserved in a residual form in autism.