Visuospatial Bias in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Line Bisection Tasks

Previous studies have found reduced leftward bias of facial processing in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, it is not clear whether they manifest a leftward bias in general visual processing. To shed light on this issue, the current study used the manual line bisection task to assess children 5 to 15 years of age with ASD as well as typically developing (TD) children. Results showed that children with ASD, similar to TD children, demonstrate a leftward bias in general visual processing, especially for bisecting long lines (≧ 80 mm). In both groups, participant performance in line bisection was affected by the hand used, the length of the line, the cueing symbol, and the location of the symbol. The ASD group showed a rightward bias when bisecting short lines (30 mm) with their left hands, which slightly differed from the TD group. These results indicate that while ASD individuals and TD individuals share a similar leftward bias in general visual processing, when using their left hands to bisect short lines, ASD individuals may show an atypical bias pattern.