title: Color obsessions and phobias in autism spectrum disorders: the case of J.G.
abstract: The current study is the first investigation of color 'obsessions' and 'phobias' in ASD. We investigate the color perception and cognition of J.G., a boy with ASD who has a strong obsession with blue, and a strong phobia of other colors. J.G.'s performance on a series of color tasks (color-entity association; chromatic discrimination; color classification) is compared to 13 children with and without autism who do not have color obsessions or phobias. The findings lead to the formalization of two hypotheses: (i) color obsessions and phobias in individuals with ASD are related to an unusually strong ability to associate colors with entities; (ii) color obsessions are related to hyposensitivity, and color phobias to hypersensitivity, in the affected regions of color space.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychology , University of Birmingham , Birmingham , UK.
authors.forename: Amanda K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ludlow
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heaton
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franklin
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003116:Color; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*