Authors: Steven Vanmarcke Caitlin Mullin Ruth Van der Hallen Kris Evers Ilse Noens Jean Steyaert Johan Wagemans
Publish Date: 2016/04/28
Volume: 46, Issue: 8, Pages: 2635-2652
Abstract
Typically developing TD adults are able to extract global information from natural images and to categorize them within a single glance This study aimed at extending these findings to individuals with autism spectrum disorder ASD using a free description openencoding paradigm Participants were asked to freely describe what they saw when looking at briefly presented reallife photographs Our results show subtle but consistent grouplevel differences More specifically individuals with ASD spontaneously reported the presence of people in the display less frequently than TD participants and they grasped the gist of the scene less well These findings argue for a less efficient rapid feedforward processing of global semantic aspects and a less spontaneous interpretation of socially salient information in ASDThis work was supported by the Research FoundationFlanders FWO to Steven Vanmarcke and longterm structural funding by the Flemish Government METH/14/02 to Johan Wagemans We also thank Thomas Schouteden for his assistance with data collection and all participants for their time and contribution to this researchSV conceived of the study participated in its design coordination measurement and analysis He also drafted the manuscript CM participated in the design and interpretation of the data RVDH participated in the design and interpretation of the data KE participated in the design and interpretation of the data IN participated in the interpretation of the data JS participated in the interpretation of the data JW participated in the design analysis and interpretation of the data All authors read commented and approved the final manuscript
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