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Hierarchical Letters in ASD: High Stimulus Variability Under Different Attentional Modes

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Abstract

Studies using hierarchical patterns to test global precedence and local–global interference in individuals with ASD have produced mixed results. The current study focused on stimulus variability and locational uncertainty, while using different attentional modes. Two groups of 44 children with and without ASD completed a divided attention task as well as a global and local selective attention task. The results revealed global-to-local and local-to-global interference in ASD, to the same extent as in the TD group. Both groups struggled with the same type of stimuli (i.e., ignoring the global level information) and performed similar in all three tasks. Future studies on (visual) information processing in ASD should pursue the impact of stimulus noise and trial-by-trial uncertainty further.

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Acknowledgments

First of all, the authors would like to thank all participants and their families for their time and contribution to this research, as well as the participating schools for allowing us into their classrooms. Secondly, we would like to thank Bart Machilsen for his help with stimulus generation with the GERT toolbox. Last but not least, we would like to thank our colleague Lotte Van Esch and our master students Lisa Lemmens and Melissa Vanhalst for their collaboration on this project and/or help with the data collection. This research was funded by a Methusalem grant awarded to Johan Wagemans by the Flemish Government (METH/14/02).

Author Contribution

RVDH conceived of the study, acquired the data, performed the statistical analysis, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. SV was involved in the data acquisition, the analysis and interpretation of data, and in the critical revision of the manuscript. IN was involved in the conception and design of the study and in the critical revision of the manuscript. JW was involved in the conception and design of the study, the statistical analysis and interpretation of the data and the critical revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Brain and Cognition, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Ruth Van der Hallen, Steven Vanmarcke & Johan Wagemans

  2. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, UPC-KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Ruth Van der Hallen

  3. Leuven Autism Research (LAuRes), KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Ruth Van der Hallen, Steven Vanmarcke, Ilse Noens & Johan Wagemans

  4. Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, KU Leuven, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Ilse Noens

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  1. Ruth Van der Hallen
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Correspondence to Ruth Van der Hallen.

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Van der Hallen, R., Vanmarcke, S., Noens, I. et al. Hierarchical Letters in ASD: High Stimulus Variability Under Different Attentional Modes. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 1854–1865 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3108-2

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