title: Auditory local bias and reduced global interference in autism.
abstract: Processing local elements of hierarchical patterns at a superior level and independently from an intact global influence is a well-established characteristic of autistic visual perception. However, whether this confirmed finding has an equivalent in the auditory modality is still unknown. To fill this gap, 18 autistics and 18 typical participants completed a melodic decision task where global and local level information can be congruent or incongruent. While focusing either on the global (melody) or local level (group of notes) of hierarchical auditory stimuli, participants have to decide whether the focused level is rising or falling. Autistics showed intact global processing, a superior performance when processing local elements and a reduced global-to-local interference compared to typical participants. These results are the first to demonstrate that autistic processing of auditory hierarchical stimuli closely parallels processing of visual hierarchical stimuli. When analyzing complex auditory information, autistic participants present a local bias and a more autonomous local processing, but not to the detriment of global processing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (UMR CNRS 5105), Grenoble, France; Laboratoire de Neurosciences fonctionnelles et pathologies, UFR de psychologie, Université Lille3, Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. Electronic address: lucie.bouvet@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouvet
authors.affiliation: Centre d'excellence en trouble envahissants du développement de l'université de Montréal (CETEDUM), Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies et Département de Psychiatrie, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrée-Anne
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Simard-Meilleur
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (UMR CNRS 5105), Grenoble, France; Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France.
authors.forename: Adeline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paignon
authors.affiliation: Centre d'excellence en trouble envahissants du développement de l'université de Montréal (CETEDUM), Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies et Département de Psychiatrie, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mottron
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (UMR CNRS 5105), Grenoble, France; Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Donnadieu
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Auditory processing; Autism; Global; Local; Local bias; Perception