Abstract
Previous studies have found reduced leftward bias of facial processing in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, it is not clear whether they manifest a leftward bias in general visual processing. To shed light on this issue, the current study used the manual line bisection task to assess children 5 to 15 years of age with ASD as well as typically developing (TD) children. Results showed that children with ASD, similar to TD children, demonstrate a leftward bias in general visual processing, especially for bisecting long lines (≧ 80 mm). In both groups, participant performance in line bisection was affected by the hand used, the length of the line, the cueing symbol, and the location of the symbol. The ASD group showed a rightward bias when bisecting short lines (30 mm) with their left hands, which slightly differed from the TD group. These results indicate that while ASD individuals and TD individuals share a similar leftward bias in general visual processing, when using their left hands to bisect short lines, ASD individuals may show an atypical bias pattern.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all of the participants without whom this study would not be possible. This research was supported by grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (20BYY087) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31830037).
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This research was supported by grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (20BYY087), the National Education Sciences Planning Project (EHA190491), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31830037), the Strategic Priority Research Program (XDB32010300), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
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Conceptualization and Methodology: CL, YJ, GC; Data Collection and curation: CL, HZ; Statistical Analyses: SS, SS; Writing—original draft preparation: CL; Writing—review and editing: YJ, CL; Supervision: YJ, GC.
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Liu, C., Zhai, H., Su, S. et al. Visuospatial Bias in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Line Bisection Tasks. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 4861–4871 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05350-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05350-9