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Atypical Categorical Perception in Autism: Autonomy of Discrimination?

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Abstract

A diminished top-down influence has been proposed in autism, to account for enhanced performance in low-level perceptual tasks. Applied to perceptual categorization, this hypothesis predicts a diminished influence of category on discrimination. In order to test this hypothesis, we compared categorical perception in 16 individuals with and 16 individuals without high-functioning autism. While participants with and without autism displayed a typical classification curve, there was no facilitation of discrimination near the category boundary in the autism group. The absence of influence of categorical knowledge on discrimination suggests an increased autonomy of low-level perceptual processes in autism, in the form of a reduced top-down influence from categories toward discrimination.

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Notes

  1. This interpretation has been suggested to us by Michelle Dawson, an autistic researcher

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by a scholarship from NSERC and FCAR (I.S.), a Chercheur Boursier from FRSQ and a grant from CIHR (L.M.). We thank Lisa-Marie Sauvé and Geneviève Martel for assistance, Claude Berthiaume for help with statistical analyses, Michelle Dawson for helpful comments, and Martin Arguin for providing the stimuli. We also thank the participants and their families. This study was presented as part of Ph.D. dissertation of the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal & Clinique spécialisée des troubles envahissants du développement, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, 7070 Blvd Perras, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H1E 1A4

    Isabelle Soulières

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Université de Montréal & Clinique spécialisée des troubles envahissants du développement, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Laurent Mottron

  3. Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Daniel Saumier

  4. Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Serge Larochelle

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  1. Isabelle Soulières
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  2. Laurent Mottron
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  4. Serge Larochelle
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Correspondence to Isabelle Soulières.

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Soulières, I., Mottron, L., Saumier, D. et al. Atypical Categorical Perception in Autism: Autonomy of Discrimination?. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 481–490 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0172-4

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