Holistic Processing of Faces as Measured by the Thatcher Illusion Is Intact in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autor/inn/en	Cleary, Laura; Brady, Nuala; Fitzgerald, Michael; Gallagher, Louise
Titel	Holistic Processing of Faces as Measured by the Thatcher Illusion Is Intact in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Quelle	In: Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 19 (2015) 4, S.451-458 (8 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1362-3613
DOI	10.1177/1362361314526005
Schlagwörter	Cognitive Processes; Human Body; Autism; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Adolescents; Perceptual Impairments; Reaction Time; Error Patterns; Spatial Ability; Comparative Analysis; Pictorial Stimuli; Statistical Analysis; Foreign Countries; Ireland; Raven Progressive Matrices; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Menschlicher Körper; Autismus; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Perceptual handicaps; Wahrnehmungsstörung; Reaktionsvermögen; Fehlertyp; Räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen; Fantasieanregung; Statistische Analyse; Ausland; Irland
Abstract	Impaired face perception in autism spectrum disorders is thought to reflect a perceptual style characterized by componential rather than configural processing of faces. This study investigated face processing in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders using the Thatcher illusion, a perceptual phenomenon exhibiting "inversion effects" that characterize typical face processing. While previous studies used a limited range of face orientations, we measured perception of normality/grotesqueness of faces at seven orientations ranging from upright to inverted to allow for a detailed comparison of both reaction time and error by orientation profiles. We found that, like their typically developing peers, adolescents with autism spectrum disorders show strong inversion effects whereby reaction times were longer and error rates greater at inverted when compared to upright orientations. Additionally, the adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, like their peers in the typically developing group, show a marked nonlinearity in the error by orientation profile. Error is roughly constant out to 90° and then increases steeply, indicating a sudden shift from configural to local processing that reflects experience with faces in their typical orientations. These findings agree with recent reports that face perception is qualitatively similar in autistic and neurotypical groups. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01