title: Reduced chromatic discrimination in children with autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Atypical perception in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is well documented (Dakin & Frith, 2005). However, relatively little is known about colour perception in ASD. Less accurate performance on certain colour tasks has led some to argue that chromatic discrimination is reduced in ASD relative to typical development (Franklin, Sowden, Burley, Notman & Alder, 2008). The current investigation assessed chromatic discrimination in children with high-functioning autism (HFA) and typically developing (TD) children matched on age and non-verbal cognitive ability, using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test (Experiment 1) and a threshold discrimination task (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, more errors on the chromatic discrimination task were made by the HFA than the TD group. Comparison with test norms revealed that performance for the HFA group was at a similar level to typically developing children around 3 years younger. In Experiment 2, chromatic thresholds were elevated for the HFA group relative to the TD group. For both experiments, reduced chromatic discrimination in ASD was due to a general reduction in chromatic sensitivity rather than a specific difficulty with either red-green or blue-yellow subsystems of colour vision. The absence of group differences on control tasks ruled out an explanation in terms of general task ability rather than chromatic sensitivity. Theories to account for the reduction in chromatic discrimination in HFA are discussed, and findings are related to cortical models of perceptual processing in ASD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5XH, UK. a.franklin@surrey.ac.uk
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sowden
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Notman
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Dixon
authors.forename: Dorotea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: Iona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loveday
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000150:complications*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003119:Color Perception Tests; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology