Autism and the experience of a perceptual object.
Sewards and Sewards (2002) argue that while computations necessary for object recognition occur throughout the ventral visual stream, object recognition awareness involves the anterior temporal lobe and the medial orbital prefrontal cortex. The present paper suggests, however, that the medial orbital prefrontal cortex has a unique contribution, namely that of producing a basic experience of a perceptual object. It is further argued that the mechanisms that produce this experience also result in making the object more important than its subparts and features. Finally, it is argued that a reduction in this importance may account for some perceptual difficulties in high-functioning autism. This view is consistent with evidence for early selective abnormalities in other systems involving the medial prefrontal cortex in autism.
Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. doritb@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
D Ben
DB
Shalom
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*