Local and Global Visual Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Influence of Task and Sample Characteristics and Relation to Symptom Severity

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-015-2526-2
• Publication Date: 2015-08-01T00:39:39Z
• Authors: Lien Van Eylen; Bart Boets; Jean Steyaert; Johan Wagemans; Ilse Noens
• Keywords: Male; Adolescent; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Age Factors; Autism spectrum disorders; Symptom severity; Severity of Illness Index; Global processing; 03 medical and health sciences; Local processing; Cognition; Sex Factors; 0302 clinical medicine; Visual processing; Sample characteristics; Task Performance and Analysis; Visual Perception; Humans; Female; Child; 10. No inequality; Netherlands

Local and global visual processing abilities and processing style were investigated in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) versus typically developing individuals, children versus adolescents and boys versus girls. Individuals with ASD displayed more attention to detail in daily life, while laboratory tasks showed slightly reduced global processing abilities, intact local processing abilities, and a more locally oriented processing style. However, the presence of these group differences depended on particular task and sample (i.e., age and gender) characteristics. Most measures of local and global processing did not correlate with each other and were not associated with processing style. Significant associations between local-global processing and ASD symptom severity were observed, but the causality of these associations remains unclear.