Spatial attention in individuals with pervasive developmental disorders using the gap overlap task

Impairments to visual disengagement in autism spectrum disorder: A review of experimental studies from infancy to adulthood

“…Further examination of their task suggests that the peripheral target consisted of white dots (Reilly et al, 2013). Thus, their null group effects are in accordance with previous studies that employed similar low-interest stimuli (Goldberg et al, 2002;Todd et al, 2009;Kawakubo et al, 2004).…”

“…The discordance between their 2004 and 2007 studies likely results from the different stimuli employed. Similar to Todd et al (2009), who did not find group differences, Kawakubo et al (2004) employed static crosses as stimuli. In contrast, Kawakubo et al (2007) employed colourful photos, similar (at least in terms of stimulus salience) to Landry and Bryson (2004), Zwaigenbaum et al (2005), and Elsabbagh et al (2013), who did find group differences.…”

“…Furthermore, LEDs and crosses may not 'grab attention' to the same degree as colourful or dynamic images, which also differed between central and peripheral location Zwaigenbaum et al, 2005;Elsabbagh et al, 2013;Elison et al, 2013). Kawakubo et al (2004) used the Gap-Overlap task to measure saccadic reaction time and rate of express saccades in adults with ASD (∼30 years of age) and their TD peers. Express saccades were defined as occurring between 80 and 130 ms after peripheral target presentation.…”

ERPs and Eye Movements Reflect Atypical Visual Perception in Pervasive Developmental Disorder

“…ERP studies of the ability to focus attention on a specific channel of information have also failed to find consistent evidence of abnormal attentional processing in subjects with PDD (Ciesielski et al, 1990(Ciesielski et al, , 1995Hoeksma et al, in press). Likewise, the results of eye movement studies suggest that attention shifting is normal in subjects with autism (Kawakubo et al, 2004;Van der Geest et al, 2001;), although there is some evidence that (covert) peripheral attention is abnormal (Townsend et al, 2001). Behavioral studies have shown subjects with PDD to have a variety of abnormalities in attentional processing (e.g.…”

“…Kemner and Engeland were no significant differences in saccadic reaction times between the two groups of children (Kawakubo, Maekawa, Itoh, Hashimoto, & Iwanami, 2004;Van der Geest, Kemner, Camfferman, Verbaten, & van Engeland, 2001). One study reported a smaller gap effect in autistic children than in normal control children (Van der Geest et al, 2001), which implies that the ability of autistic children to shift attention is influenced less than in control children by the current state of visual attention, but there is no evidence that children with autism are less able to shift their attention.…”