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Updated: Jul 6, 2025

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 12, 2018
Scene construction ability in neurotypical and autistic adults
Marchella Smith1, Lindsey Cameron1, Heather J Ferguson1
1University of Kent, UK.
Lay Abstract:
People with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulties imagining events, which might result from difficulty mentally generating and maintaining a coherent spatial scene. This study compared this scene construction ability between autistic (N = 55) and neurotypical (N = 63) adults. Results showed that scene construction was diminished in autistic compared to neurotypical participants, and participants with fewer autistic traits had better scene construction ability. ASC diagnosis did not influence the frequency of mentions of the self or of sensory experiences. Exploratory analysis suggests that scene construction ability is associated with the ability to understand our own and other people's mental states, and that these individual-level preferences/cognitive styles can overrule typical group-level characteristics.
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