title: Evidence of Reduced Global Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
abstract: Frith's original notion of 'weak central coherence' suggested that increased local processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) resulted from reduced global processing. More recent accounts have emphasised superior local perception and suggested intact global integration. However, tasks often place local and global processing in direct trade-off, making it difficult to determine whether group differences reflect reduced global processing, increased local processing, or both. We present two measures of global integration in which poor performance could not reflect increased local processing. ASD participants were slower to identify fragmented figures and less sensitive to global geometric impossibility than IQ-matched controls. These findings suggest that reduced global integration comprises one important facet of weak central coherence in ASD.
authors: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry Section, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London, WC1N 1EH, UK. rhonda.booth@ucl.ac.uk.|MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK. rhonda.booth@ucl.ac.uk.
authors: Rhonda D L
authors: RDL
authors: Booth
authors: MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
authors: Francesca G E
authors: FGE
authors: Happé
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D060685:Sense of Coherence / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: ASD; Fragmented Picture-Completion; Impossible-Figures; Local–global processing; Weak central coherence (wCC)