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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Published on: April 22, 2015

Visual local and global processing in low-functioning deaf individuals with and without autism spectrum disorder.

J P W Maljaars¹, I L J Noens, E M Scholte

¹Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Clinical Child and Adolescent Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands. maljaars@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Journal of Intellectual Disability Research : JIDR

|November 27, 2010

Summary

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID), with or without deafness, show enhanced visual perception, particularly with meaningless stimuli. This supports the weak central coherence theory in ASD and suggests auditory deprivation may enhance visual perception in deaf individuals.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive psychology
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Sensory processing

Background:

Previous research indicated enhanced visual local processing in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The weak central coherence theory explains these findings, suggesting a bias towards local processing in ASD.
The current study investigates visual perception in deaf individuals with and without ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine enhanced visual perception in low-functioning deaf individuals with and without ASD compared to individuals with ID.
To evaluate the underlying cognitive style in deaf and hearing individuals with ASD.
To determine if the weak central coherence theory applies to deaf individuals with ASD.

Main Methods:

Four subgroups participated: ID (n=68), ID with ASD (n=72), ID with deafness (n=22), and ID with ASD and deafness (n=15).
Participants completed sorting tasks using meaningful and meaningless materials, adapted from the ComFor study.
Analyses of covariance were used to compare performance, controlling for age and functioning level.

Main Results:

Deaf individuals with ID and ASD demonstrated enhanced visual perception, particularly on meaningless sorting tasks, similar to hearing individuals with ID and ASD.
This enhancement was observed when compared to hearing individuals with ID, but not deaf individuals with ID.
Performance patterns in deaf individuals with ASD mirrored those of hearing individuals with ASD.

Conclusions:

Enhanced visual perception for meaningless information in ASD (with or without deafness) aligns with the central coherence theory.
In deaf individuals, enhanced visual perception may stem from general visual system adaptation due to auditory deprivation.
The findings highlight the interplay between neurodevelopmental conditions and sensory experiences in shaping cognitive abilities.