TY - JOUR
T1 - Visual search and autism symptoms
T2 - What young children search for and co-occurring ADHD matter
AU - Doherty, Brianna R.
AU - Charman, Tony
AU - Johnson, Mark H.
AU - Scerif, Gaia
AU - Gliga, Teodora
AU - the BASIS TEAM
AU - Baron-Cohen, Simon
AU - Bedford, Rachael
AU - Bolton, Patrick
AU - Blasi, Anna
AU - Cheung, Celeste
AU - Dalmaijer, Edwin
AU - Davies, Kim
AU - Elsabbagh, Mayada
AU - Fernandes, Janice
AU - Gammer, Issy
AU - Guiraud, Jeanne
AU - Johnson, Mark H.
AU - Liew, M.
AU - Lloyd-Fox, Sarah
AU - Maris, Helen
AU - Hara, L.
AU - Pasco, Greg
AU - Pickles, Andrew
AU - Ribeiro, Helena
AU - Salomone, E.
AU - Tucker, Leslie
AU - Yemane, F.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - Superior visual search is one of the most common findings in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) literature. Here, we ascertain how generalizable these findings are across task and participant characteristics, in light of recent replication failures. We tested 106 3-year-old children at familial risk for ASD, a sample that presents high ASD and ADHD symptoms, and 25 control participants, in three multi-target search conditions: easy exemplar search (look for cats amongst artefacts), difficult exemplar search (look for dogs amongst chairs/tables perceptually similar to dogs), and categorical search (look for animals amongst artefacts). Performance was related to dimensional measures of ASD and ADHD, in agreement with current research domain criteria (RDoC). We found that ASD symptom severity did not associate with enhanced performance in search, but did associate with poorer categorical search in particular, consistent with literature describing impairments in categorical knowledge in ASD. Furthermore, ASD and ADHD symptoms were both associated with more disorganized search paths across all conditions. Thus, ASD traits do not always convey an advantage in visual search; on the contrary, ASD traits may be associated with difficulties in search depending upon the nature of the stimuli (e.g., exemplar vs. categorical search) and the presence of co-occurring symptoms.
AB - Superior visual search is one of the most common findings in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) literature. Here, we ascertain how generalizable these findings are across task and participant characteristics, in light of recent replication failures. We tested 106 3-year-old children at familial risk for ASD, a sample that presents high ASD and ADHD symptoms, and 25 control participants, in three multi-target search conditions: easy exemplar search (look for cats amongst artefacts), difficult exemplar search (look for dogs amongst chairs/tables perceptually similar to dogs), and categorical search (look for animals amongst artefacts). Performance was related to dimensional measures of ASD and ADHD, in agreement with current research domain criteria (RDoC). We found that ASD symptom severity did not associate with enhanced performance in search, but did associate with poorer categorical search in particular, consistent with literature describing impairments in categorical knowledge in ASD. Furthermore, ASD and ADHD symptoms were both associated with more disorganized search paths across all conditions. Thus, ASD traits do not always convey an advantage in visual search; on the contrary, ASD traits may be associated with difficulties in search depending upon the nature of the stimuli (e.g., exemplar vs. categorical search) and the presence of co-occurring symptoms.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85052510807&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/desc.12661
DO - 10.1111/desc.12661
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85052510807
SN - 1363-755X
VL - 21
JO - Developmental Science
JF - Developmental Science
IS - 5
M1 - e12661
ER -