Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to assess meaningful variability in visual-perceptual skills using a standardized assessment of visual perception, the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS), across children with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In addition to assessing overall accuracy across subtests of the TVPS, we also assessed response variability at the item-level, and the linear relationship between quantitative measures of ASD symptoms, task performance, and item-level variance. We report a significant linear relationship between ASD features and performance on the TVPS Figure Ground subtest. Additionally, results of an item-level analysis point to a significant relationship between within-task variability on the Figure Ground subtest and quantitative ASD traits, with a less variable response pattern being associated with increased ASD symptoms. Findings presented here suggest variability in perceptual processing across ASD may be influenced by individual differences in trait distribution.
Highlights
Visual perception has been researched at length in autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Children with and without ASD did not differ on Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (TVPS) Sequencing (U = 701.5, p = 0.128, NS) and TVPS Complex Processes scores (U = 923.00, p = 0.945, NS) nor remaining TVPS subtest scores (p’s > 0.06, NS)
SRS Total raw score as well as age were not found to be significant predictors of TVPSFG (p’s < 0.88, NS). These results align with previous studies (DiCriscio and Troiani, 2017, 2018) and demonstrate that TVPSFG scores can be predicted by ASD features as measured by the Broader Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAP-Q) above and beyond the contribution of FSIQ
Summary
Several studies have demonstrated a perceptual bias to local as compared to global features and/or enhanced visual processing abilities in individuals with ASD (Happé, 1999; Dakin and Frith, 2005; see Simmons et al, 2009 for review). A large proportion of the current research utilizes specific perceptual paradigms designed to capture differences in global/local processing (i.e., Navon figures; EFT, Embedded figures test) and makes direct comparisons between those with ASD diagnoses and those that lack any diagnosis (Plaisted et al, 1998; O’Riordan et al, 2001; Dakin and Frith, 2005; Mottron et al, 2006; Scherf et al, 2008; Kaldy et al, 2011, 2016). Research in typically developing individuals or healthy adults suggests that there is natural variability in perceptual precedence across the general
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