title: Local visual perception bias in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders; do we have the whole picture?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  While local bias in visual processing in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been reported to result in difficulties in recognizing faces and facially expressed emotions, but superior ability in disembedding figures, associations between these abilities within a group of children with and without ASD have not been explored.
  
  
  METHODS
  Possible associations in performance on the Visual Perception Skills Figure-Ground test, a face recognition test and an emotion recognition test were investigated within 25 8-12-years-old children with high-functioning autism/Asperger syndrome, and in comparison to 33 typically developing children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses indicated a weak positive correlation between accuracy in Figure-Ground recognition and emotion recognition. No other correlation estimates were significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings challenge both the enhanced perceptual function hypothesis and the weak central coherence hypothesis, and accentuate the importance of further scrutinizing the existance and nature of local visual bias in ASD.
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .|b School of Education and Communication, CHILD Programme, Institute of Disability Research, Jönköping University , Jönköping , Sweden .
authors: Marita
authors: M
authors: Falkmer
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .
authors: Melissa
authors: M
authors: Black
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Tang
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Fitzgerald
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .
authors: Sonya
authors: S
authors: Girdler
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .
authors: Denise
authors: D
authors: Leung
authors: c Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (IMH), Faculty of Health Sciences , Linköping University & Pain and Rehabilitation Centre , Linköping , Sweden , and.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Ordqvist
authors: d Department of Mechanical Engineering , Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia.
authors: Tele
authors: T
authors: Tan
authors: d Department of Mechanical Engineering , Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia.
authors: Ishrat
authors: I
authors: Jahan
authors: a School of Occupational Therapy & Social Work, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI), Curtin University , Perth , Western Australia , Australia .|c Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Medicine and Health Sciences (IMH), Faculty of Health Sciences , Linköping University & Pain and Rehabilitation Centre , Linköping , Sweden , and.
authors: Torbjorn
authors: T
authors: Falkmer
mesh_terms: D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Central coherence; embedded figures; emotion recognition; enhanced perceptual function hypothesis; face recognition