Global/Local Processing in Autism: Not a Disability, but a Disinclination
Author(s)
Koldewyn, Kami; Jiang, Yuhong V.; Weigelt, Sarah; Kanwisher, Nancy
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It is widely suggested that ASD is characterized by atypical local/global processing, but the published findings are contradictory. In an effort to resolve this question, we tested a large group of children on both a free-choice task and an instructed task using hierarchical local–global stimuli. We find that although children with autism showed a reduced preference to report global properties of a stimulus when given a choice, their ability to process global properties when instructed to do so is unimpaired. These findings support prior claims that people with ASD show a disinclination, not a disability, in global processing, and highlight the broader question of whether other characteristics of autism may also reflect disinclinations rather than disabilities.
Date issued
2013-02Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MITJournal
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Citation
Koldewyn, Kami, Yuhong V. Jiang, Sarah Weigelt, and Nancy Kanwisher. “Global/Local Processing in Autism: Not a Disability, but a Disinclination.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 43, no. 10 (February 3, 2013): 2329–2340.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
0162-3257
1573-3432