Autistic children show more efficient parvocellular visual processing

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Autistic children show more efficient parvocellular visual processing Alyse Brown1* and David P. Crewther1 1 Swinburne University of Technology, Australia Psychometric tasks and non-linear visual evoked potentials (VEP) were used to examine global/local and magnocellular/parvocellular processing differences between children (7-11yr) with autism spectrum disorder ASD and Controls. Complex stimuli (eg butterfly) made up of a mosaic of simple shapes (eg squares) were proposed to result in differential cortical processing areas for the global vs. local forms. Motion coherence thresholds and global/local Inspection Times (IT) were measured before and after a month of playing a computer game, which trained global and local rapid recognition processes. The non-linear VEP analysis showed that the ASDs had more efficient parvocellular processing (relatively lower second order to first order K2.2/K1 Wiener kernel amplitude ratio) compared to the control group (F(1,18) = 10.3, p < .005). No evidence of atypical magnocellular function was found in ASD. In the second testing session the ASD’s performance significantly improved on the more globally taxing dot motion task showing that more practice was needed than Controls. IT results did not differ between groups, however a negative correlation between global IT and Ravens F(1,8) = 38.72, p < .001 was found in the ASD group, which was not evident in the Controls or the local IT. When analysis was restricted to high performing ASD and Control subgroups (Raven’s score ≥30), IT performances were indistinguishable, however parvocellular physiology was still significantly more efficient in the ASD group F(1,12) = 15.64, p< .002. Increased efficiency of parvocellular system supports the notion that individuals with ASD have more efficient local processing. Keywords: autism, Magnocellular, Parvocellular, visual evoked potential, Visual Perception Conference: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Sensation and Perception Citation: Brown A and Crewther DP (2012). Autistic children show more efficient parvocellular visual processing. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00021 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 25 Oct 2012; Published Online: 07 Nov 2012. * Correspondence: Ms. Alyse Brown, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, amailboxx@hotmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Alyse Brown David P Crewther Google Alyse Brown David P Crewther Google Scholar Alyse Brown David P Crewther PubMed Alyse Brown David P Crewther Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.