Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether individuals with Asperger’s disorder exhibit difficulty in switching attention from a local level to a global level. Eleven participants with Asperger’s disorder and 11 age- and gender-matched healthy controls performed a level-repetition switching task using Navon-type hierarchical stimuli. In both groups, level-repetition was beneficial at both levels. Furthermore, individuals with Asperger’s disorder exhibited difficulty in switching attention from a local level to a global level compared to control individuals. These findings suggested that there is a problem with the inhibitory mechanism that influences the output of enhanced local visual processing in Asperger’s disorder.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akshoomoff, N. (2005). The neuropsychology of autistic spectrum disorders. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27, 307–310.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text revision) DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
DiCicco-Bloom, E., Lord, C., Zwaigenbaum, L., Courchesne, E., Dager, S. R., Schmitz, C., et al. (2006). The developmental neurobiology of autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 6897–6906.
Geurts, H. M., Corbett, B., & Solomon, M. (2009). The paradox of cognitive flexibility in autism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 74–82.
Happé, F. G., & Booth, R. D. (2008). The power of the positive: Revisiting weak coherence in autism spectrum disorders. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61, 50–63.
Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2006). The weak coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 5–25.
Jarrold, C., Butler, D., Cottington, E., & Jimenez, F. (2000). Linking theory of mind and central coherence bias in autism and in the general population. Developmental Psychology, 36, 126–138.
Jolliffe, T., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1997). Are people with autism and Asperger syndrome faster than normal on the Embedded Figures Test? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 527–534.
Kimchi, R. (1992). Primacy of wholistic processing and global/local paradigm: A critical review. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 24–38.
Lamb, M. R., London, B., Pond, H. M., & Whitt, K. A. (1998). Automatic and controlled processes in the analysis of hierarchical structure. Psychological Science, 9, 14–19.
Lamb, M. R., & Yund, E. W. (1996). Spatial frequency and attention: Effects of level-, target-, and location-repetition on the processing of global and local forms. Perception & Psychophysics, 58, 363–373.
Mann, T. A., & Walker, P. (2003). Autism and a deficit in broadening the spread of visual attention. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 274–284.
Mottron, L., Burack, J. A., Iarocci, G., Belleville, S., & Enns, J. T. (2003). Locally oriented perception with intact global processing among adolescents with high-functioning autism: Evidence from multiple paradigms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 904–913.
Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulières, I., Hubert, B., & Burack, J. (2006). Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: An update, and eight principles of autistic perception. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 27–43.
Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 353–383.
Ozonoff, S., Strayer, D. L., McMahon, W. M., & Filloux, F. (1994). Executive function abilities in autism and Tourette syndrome: An information processing approach. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 1015–1032.
Plaisted, K., Swettenham, J., & Rees, L. (1999). Children with autism show local precedence in a divided attention task and global precedence in a selective attention task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 733–742.
Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J. L., Moss, S. A., Brereton, A. V., & Tonge, B. J. (2000). Atypical interference of local detail on global processing in high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 769–778.
Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J. L., Moss, S. A., Brereton, A. V., & Tonge, B. J. (2001). A deficit in shifting attention present in high-functioning autism but not Asperger’s disorder. Autism, 5, 67–80.
Robertson, L. C. (1996). Attentional persistence for features of hierarchical patterns. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 227–249.
Scherf, K. S., Luna, B., Kimchi, R., Minshew, N., & Behrmann, M. (2008). Missing the big picture: Impaired development of global shape processing in autism. Autism Research, 1, 114–129.
Shah, A., & Frith, U. (1983). An islet of ability in autistic children: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 24, 613–620.
Shah, A., & Frith, U. (1993). Why do autistic individuals show superior performance on the block design task? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 34, 1351–1364.
Wang, L., Mottron, L., Peng, D., Berthiaume, C., & Dawson, M. (2007). Local bias and local-to-global interference without global deficit: A robust finding in autism under various conditions of attention, exposure time, and visual angle. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 24, 550–574.
Wilkinson, D. T., Halligan, P. W., Marshall, J. C., Büchel, C., & Dolan, R. J. (2001). Switching between the forest and the trees: Brain systems involved in local/global changed-level judgments. Neuroimage, 13, 56–67.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all of the participants for making this research possible. We would also like to thank Dr. Tsukishima and Dr. Nakano for their help. We are grateful to Ms. Numata, Ms. Watanabe, Ms. Uematsu and Dr. Matsui for their helpful and insightful comments on this article. This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (no. 23730870).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Katagiri, M., Kasai, T., Kamio, Y. et al. Individuals with Asperger’s Disorder Exhibit Difficulty in Switching Attention from a Local Level to a Global Level. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 395–403 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1578-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1578-9