Typical perceptual organization in autism: Perceptual grouping and spatial distortion

Abstract

The extensive literature on global–local processing in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has recently shifted from arguing for a processing impairment among those with ASD to positing an attenuated preference for global processing. One suggestion is that the fast extraction of the global gist is less efficient in ASD, in contrast to the superior attention‐driven processing of local elements. To examine this claim of attenuated global processing, the present study tested how perceptual grouping affected the global organization of visual scenes, specifically testing the claim of less mandatory, more optional global processing in ASD. Participants judged the distance between grouped and ungrouped elements in displays in which illusory distortions were inherent in configurations exemplifying the Gestalt principles of organization. Results from six experiments manipulating different Gestalt cues showed a consistent pattern, indicating that for individuals with ASD, as for typically developed (TD) individuals, grouping processes are organizational in nature, incorporating the grouping of related elements while parsing these from other unrelated elements. This parsing is accompanied by distortions in the spatial relationships perceived in the visual scene. ASD participants exhibited an overall larger tendency to overestimate the distances, but they also demonstrated typical perceptual organization processes that were robust and mandatory and, as in neurotypicals, affected the perception of the whole scene. Autism Res 2019. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Lay SummaryIt is known that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perceive the world in a different way than their typically developed (TD) peers. While TD individuals exhibit strong bias toward processing the global structure of visual scenes, individuals with ASD exhibit enhanced perception of the local elements. We showed that when the local and global levels are not competing, individuals with autism demonstrate robust global organization that operates even when not directly instructed.

Typical Utilization of Gestalt Grouping Cues in Shape Perception by Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Concordantly, when tested implicitly using object-based attention effects, grouping by proximity among persons with ASD was, as we found, comparable to that of TD individuals (Falter et al, 2010). Similarly, persons with ASD showed similar effects of Gestalt grouping on perceptual estimations to those displayed by their TD peers on an implicit task of distance estimation examining the organization of visual scenes (Avraam et al, 2019). The convergent evidence from these studies indicates intact utilization of Gestalt cues in element clustering and perceptual organization of visual scenes, and their interactive effects in shape formation.…”

“…The notion that the discrepant evidence is task-dependent is supported by the finding that participants with ASD were able to organize the whole representation utilizing the grouping cues of closure, good continuation, similarity, and proximity when the task involved element clustering (Avraam, Binur, & Hadad, 2019). Both the participants with ASD and the TD participants underestimated spatial distances within elements composing a perceived group, but overestimated those between elements composing two different perceived groups.…”

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Modulates EEG Microstates in Low-Functioning Autism: A Pilot Study

“…The fast extraction of the global gist was less efficient in ASD than in TD; by contrast, attentiondriven processing of local elements was superior. Avraam et al reported attenuated global processing in ASD [51]. A higher frequency of ASD occurrence has been reported in previous studies [52].…”

Sensory Perception in Autism: What Can We Learn?

“…Similarly, Milne and Scope (2008) used a forced choice judgment of the dimensions of a shape defined by illusory contours-and contrary to Happé's study which used the same displays-found no differences between those with and without autism. Hadad and colleagues Binur, Hel-Or, & Hadad, 2021;Avraam, Binur, & Hadad, 2019) used 2AFC tasks and found typical susceptibility to the width-height illusion and the weightbrightness illusion, both involving integration across dimensions, with the latter also involving integration across sensory modalities. The findings, thus, converge across these psychophysical studies to suggest typical effects of perceptual illusions in autism.…”