Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Default Local Processing in Individuals with High Autistic Traits Does Not Come at the Expense of Global Attention.

Authors

Ryan A Stevenson
Sol Z Sun
Naomi Hazlett
Jonathan S Cant
Morgan D Barense
Susanne Ferber

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-1-2018

Journal

Journal of autism and developmental disorders

Volume

48

Issue

4

First Page

1382

Last Page

1396

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1007/s10803-016-2711-y

Abstract

Atypical sensory perception is one of the most ubiquitous symptoms of autism, including a tendency towards a local-processing bias. We investigated whether local-processing biases were associated with global-processing impairments on a global/local attentional-scope paradigm in conjunction with a composite-face task. Behavioural results were related to individuals' levels of autistic traits, specifically the Attention to Detail subscale of the Autism Quotient, and the Sensory Profile Questionnaire. Individuals showing high rates of Attention to Detail were more susceptible to global attentional-scope manipulations, suggesting that local-processing biases associated with Attention to Detail do not come at the cost of a global-processing deficit, but reflect a difference in default global versus local bias. This relationship operated at the attentional/perceptual level, but not response criterion.

Notes

Publisher version available at:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-016-2711-y