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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Eye Tracking Young Children with Autism
Published on: March 27, 2012
Color Afterimages in Autistic Adults
John Maule1, Kirstie Stanworth2, Elizabeth Pellicano3
1The Sussex Colour Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Pevensey II 5B7, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK. J.Maule@sussex.ac.uk.
None:
It has been suggested that attenuated adaptation to visual stimuli in autism is the result of atypical perceptual priors (e.g., Pellicano and Burr in Trends Cogn Sci 16(10):504-510, 2012. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2012.08.009 ). This study investigated adaptation to color in autistic adults, measuring both strength of afterimage and the influence of top-down knowledge. We found no difference in color afterimage strength between autistic and typical adults. Effects of top-down knowledge on afterimage intensity shown by Lupyan (Acta Psychol 161:117-130, 2015. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.08.006 ) were not replicated for either group. This study finds intact color adaptation in autistic adults. This is in contrast to findings of attenuated adaptation to faces and numerosity in autistic children. Future research should investigate the possibility of developmental differences in adaptation and further examine top-down effects on adaptation.
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