title: Disturbed holistic processing in autism spectrum disorders verified by two cognitive tasks requiring perception of complex visual stimuli.
abstract: Central coherence is a key concept in research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It refers to the process in which diverse information is integrated and higher meaning is constructed in context. A malfunction in this process could result in abnormal attention to partial information in preference to the whole. To verify this hypothesis, we studied the performance of two visual tasks by 10 patients with autistic disorder or Asperger's disorder and by 26 (experiment 1) or 25 (experiment 2) normal subjects. In experiment 1, the subjects memorized pictures, some pictures with a change related to the main theme (D1) and others with a change not related to the main theme (D2); then the same pictures were randomly presented to the subjects who were asked to find the change. In experiment 2, the subjects were presented pictures of a normal (N) or a Thatcherized (T) face arranged side by side inversely (I) or uprightly (U) and to judge them as the same or different. In experiment 1, ASD subjects exhibited significantly lower rates of correct responses in D1 but not in D2. In experiment 2, ASD subjects exhibited significantly longer response times in NT-U but not in TN-I. These results showed a deficit in holistic processing, which is consistent with weak central coherence in ASD.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, D3 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. nakaha@psy.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakahachi
authors.forename: Ko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iwase
authors.forename: Wataru
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ishigami
authors.forename: Chitaru
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toyonaga
authors.forename: Shizuyo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Hideto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirotsune
authors.forename: Yosyo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tei
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yokoi
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Okajima
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D032882:Comprehension; D003210:Concept Formation; D035061:Control Groups; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception