title: Drawing Firmer Conclusions: Autistic Children Show No Evidence of a Local Processing Bias in a Controlled Copying Task.
abstract: Drawing tasks are frequently used to test competing theories of visuospatial skills in autism. Yet, methodological differences between studies have led to inconsistent findings. To distinguish between accounts based on local bias or global deficit, we present a simple task that has previously revealed dissociable local/global impairments in neuropsychological patients. Autistic and typical children copied corner elements, arranged in a square configuration. Grouping cues were manipulated to test whether global properties affected the accuracy of reproduction. All children were similarly affected by these manipulations. There was no group difference in the reproduction of local elements, although global accuracy was negatively related to better local processing for autistic children. These data speak against influential theories of visuospatial differences in autism.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. alastair.smith@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alastair D
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7335-4083
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Lorcan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kenny
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rudnicka
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Josie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Briscoe
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK.|School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pellicano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012016:Reference Values; D060685:Sense of Coherence
keywords: Autism; Coherence; Drawing; Global; Grouping; Local