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Published on: October 3, 2018
Perceiving the impossible: how individuals with autism copy paradoxical figures
Elizabeth Sheppard1, Danielle Ropar, Peter Mitchell
1School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, UK. lpxes@psychology.nottingham.ac.uk.
Summary
Individuals with autism are less impacted by impossible geometric figures than neurotypical adults. This difference is not explained by local perceptual styles, suggesting higher-level conceptual processing differences.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Background:
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit differences in visual perception and cognitive processing.
- Previous research indicated reduced sensitivity to geometric impossibility in individuals with ASD.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if a local perceptual style explains why individuals with autism are less affected by geometric impossibility.
- To examine the relationship between perceptual style and the effect of geometric impossibility in autism.
Main Methods:
- Participants with and without autism copied possible and impossible geometric figures.
- Drawing time was measured to assess the effect of geometric impossibility.
- Perceptual strategies (local vs. global) were analyzed in relation to the impossibility effect.
Main Results:
- Geometric impossibility significantly increased drawing time more for neurotypical comparison participants than for those with autism.
- Participants with autism did not employ more localized drawing strategies than comparison participants.
- A global perceptual strategy correlated with a stronger impossibility effect in comparison participants, but not in those with autism.
Conclusions:
- The reduced effect of geometric impossibility in autism is not attributable to a localized perceptual style.
- Differences in high-level conceptual processing, rather than perceptual style, likely underlie the observed group differences.
- This suggests that how individuals with autism conceptually process visual information differs from neurotypical individuals.
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