title: Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Default Local Processing in Individuals with High Autistic Traits Does Not Come at the Expense of Global Attention.
abstract: Atypical sensory perception is one of the most ubiquitous symptoms of autism, including a tendency towards a local-processing bias. We investigated whether local-processing biases were associated with global-processing impairments on a global/local attentional-scope paradigm in conjunction with a composite-face task. Behavioural results were related to individuals' levels of autistic traits, specifically the Attention to Detail subscale of the Autism Quotient, and the Sensory Profile Questionnaire. Individuals showing high rates of Attention to Detail were more susceptible to global attentional-scope manipulations, suggesting that local-processing biases associated with Attention to Detail do not come at the cost of a global-processing deficit, but reflect a difference in default global versus local bias. This relationship operated at the attentional/perceptual level, but not response criterion.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada. ryan.andrew.stevenson@gmail.com.
authors: Ryan A
authors: RA
authors: Stevenson
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada.|Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors: Sol Z
authors: SZ
authors: Sun
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada.
authors: Naomi
authors: N
authors: Hazlett
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors: Jonathan S
authors: JS
authors: Cant
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada.|Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors: Morgan D
authors: MD
authors: Barense
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 Saint George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada.|Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Ferber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention; Autism spectrum disorder; Composite-face effect; Face recognition; Global processing; Local processing; Sensory processing; Vision