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Visual Search in ASD: Instructed Versus Spontaneous Local and Global Processing

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Abstract

Visual search has been used extensively to investigate differences in mid-level visual processing between individuals with ASD and TD individuals. The current study employed two visual search paradigms with Gaborized stimuli to assess the impact of task distractors (Experiment 1) and task instruction (Experiment 2) on local–global visual processing in ASD versus TD children. Experiment 1 revealed both groups to be equally sensitive to the absence or presence of a distractor, regardless of the type of target or type of distractor. Experiment 2 revealed a differential effect of task instruction for ASD compared to TD, regardless of the type of target. Taken together, these results stress the importance of task factors in the study of local–global visual processing in ASD.

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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 and Maarten Demeyer for their help with stimulus generation and the GERT toolbox. In addition, we would like to thank Birgitt Haesen for the experimental designs and for her assistance in the data collection. Last but not least, we would like to thank our master students Nele Berghmans, Sanne Drees, Sophie Duchesne, Helen Goovaerts, Ellen Janssen, Nele Soors, Astrid Van Der Most, and Lotte van Esch, 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/08/02 and METH/14/02), two postdoctoral fellowships of the Research Foundation Flanders awarded to Bart Boets and Kris Evers, and two individual grants from the Marguerite Marie Delacroix Support Fund awarded to Kris Evers (GV/B-141) and Birgitt Haesen (GV/B-119).

Author Contributions

RVDH, KE, BB, JS, IN and JW were involved in the study conception and design. RVDH and KE were involved in the acquisition of the data. RVDH, KE, BB and JW were involved in the analysis and interpretation of data. RVDH and KE were involved in drafting the manuscript. RVDH, KE, BB, JS, IN and JW were involved in the critical revision of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Ruth Van der Hallen, Kris Evers & Johan Wagemans

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

    Ruth Van der Hallen, Kris Evers, Bart Boets & Jean Steyaert

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

    Ruth Van der Hallen, Kris Evers, Bart Boets, Jean Steyaert, Ilse Noens & Johan Wagemans

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

    Kris Evers & 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., Evers, K., Boets, B. et al. Visual Search in ASD: Instructed Versus Spontaneous Local and Global Processing. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 3023–3036 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2826-1

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