title: Holistic processing of faces as measured by the Thatcher illusion is intact in autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Impaired face perception in autism spectrum disorders is thought to reflect a perceptual style characterized by componential rather than configural processing of faces. This study investigated face processing in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders using the Thatcher illusion, a perceptual phenomenon exhibiting 'inversion effects' that characterize typical face processing. While previous studies used a limited range of face orientations, we measured perception of normality/grotesqueness of faces at seven orientations ranging from upright to inverted to allow for a detailed comparison of both reaction time and error by orientation profiles. We found that, like their typically developing peers, adolescents with autism spectrum disorders show strong inversion effects whereby reaction times were longer and error rates greater at inverted when compared to upright orientations. Additionally, the adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, like their peers in the typically developing group, show a marked nonlinearity in the error by orientation profile. Error is roughly constant out to 90° and then increases steeply, indicating a sudden shift from configural to local processing that reflects experience with faces in their typical orientations. These findings agree with recent reports that face perception is qualitatively similar in autistic and neurotypical groups.
authors.affiliation: University College Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cleary
authors.affiliation: University College Dublin, Ireland nuala.brady@ucd.ie.
authors.forename: Nuala
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brady
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
authors.affiliation: Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gallagher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D007088:Illusions; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D065855:Spatial Processing / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Thatcher illusion; autism spectrum disorders; configural processing; face perception; inversion effects