Abstract
Rapid manipulation of the attention field (i.e. the location and spread of visual spatial attention) is a critical aspect of human cognition, and previous research on spatial attention in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has produced inconsistent results. In a series of three psychophysical experiments, we evaluated claims in the literature that individuals with ASD exhibit a deficit in voluntarily controlling the deployment and size of the spatial attention field. We measured the spatial distribution of performance accuracies and reaction times to quantify the sizes and locations of the attention field, with and without spatial uncertainty (i.e. the lack of predictability concerning the spatial position of the upcoming stimulus). We found that high-functioning adults with autism exhibited slower reaction times overall with spatial uncertainty, but the effects of attention on performance accuracies and reaction times were indistinguishable between individuals with autism and typically developing individuals in all three experiments. These results provide evidence of intact endogenous spatial attention function in high-functioning adults with ASD, suggesting that atypical endogenous attention cannot be a latent characteristic of autism in general.
Highlights
Attention allows us to selectively process the vast amount of information with which we are confronted
We found that high–functioning adults with autism exhibited slower reactions times overall with spatial uncertainty, but the effects of attention on performance accuracies and reaction times were indistinguishable between individuals with autism and typically developing individuals, in all three experiments
These results provide evidence of intact endogenous spatial attention function in high–functioning adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), suggesting that atypical endogenous attention cannot be a latent characteristic of autism in general
Summary
Attention allows us to selectively process the vast amount of information with which we are confronted. By focusing on a certain location or aspect of the visual scene, visual attention enables the prioritization of some aspects of information while ignoring others. It has been known since the dawn of experimental psychology that covert attention, the selective processing of visual information in the absence of eye movements, plays a central role in perception (James, 1890). Of particular relevance to the current study are the methods that have been developed for characterizing the accuracy and speed with which individuals deploy the attention field, i.e., the location and spread of visual spatial attention (e.g., Eriksen and St James, 1986; Muller et al, 2003; Belopolsky et al, 2007; Herrmann et al, 2010). The primary aim of the research described here was to apply the full force of the attention researcher’s methodological toolkit to the question of attention field control in ASD
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