Running Head: Atypical visual profile in ASD & BAP

AN ATYPICAL VISUAL PROFILE IN AUTISM AND THE BROADER AUTISM

PHENOTYPE

Emma Grinter1
A/Prof. Murray Maybery1
Prof. David R. Badcock1
Dr. Johanna C. Badcock2
Dr. Elizabeth Pellicano1, 3

1
2

School of Psychology, University of Western Australia

Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry/Graylands Hospital, School of Psychiatry

and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia
3

Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol

Correspondence:
Emma Grinter
School of Psychology
University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Hwy
Crawley, Western Australia 6009
grinte01@student.uwa.edu.au

Atypical Visual Profile in Autism and the Broader Autism

Phenotype
Grinter, E., Maybery, M., Badcock, D. R., Badcock, J., & Pellicano, E.
Abstract
Children with autism demonstrate a profile of visual processing that differs from that
of typically developing individuals. They outperform typically developing individuals in
identifying simple shapes embedded within a complex figure and in completing the Block
Design subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. This profile of enhanced visual
processing is in contrast to poor abilities in global motion processing. Weak Central
Coherence theory suggests this pattern of abilities occurs owing to difficulties in integrating
complex visual information, and a default to detailed processing, whereas the Enhanced
Local Processing theory maintains these results are due simply to a preference for and facility
with processing visual parts without any deficit in processing information at a global level.
Research to date has been unable to provide consistent support for either theory in the visual
domain; hence the current research outlines the benefits of using the Broader Autism
Phenotype (BAP) to inform our understanding of the more severe form of the phenotype.
Research is outlined investigating the visuospatial abilities of individuals with the BAP, in
conjunction with determining whether Weak Central Coherence or Enhanced Local
Processing characterises atypical processing in the visual form perception pathway in this
population.

The focus on visual abilities in

autism is not a new one, with the original
studies now dating back almost 25 years
(eg. Shah & Frith, 1983). While these
studies provided valuable insight into the
visual characteristics of individuals with
autism, the mechanisms which underlie
these characteristics are still under
investigation. Examining visual processing
in autism is beneficial in that it may assist
in explaining some aspects of the disorder
that so far have not received much
attention in the literature. For example,
individuals with autism attend to particular
stimuli or the parts of stimuli to the
exclusion of others, and notice minor
features or changes to the environment that
are often overlooked, or indeed are
indiscriminable, to others (Hayes, 1987).
As will be outlined below, research into
visual abilities in autism highlights
domains of superior performance in this
population, suggesting differences in

processing compared to unaffected

individuals, rather than deficits.
In
addition, it is apparent that a wider
population not limited to those diagnosed
with autism share similar patterns of visual
performance, hence making it possible to
use this group to inform our understanding
of visual functioning in autism. Following
a summary of the research pertaining to
visual perception in autism, this paper will
therefore consider the benefits of
investigating individuals who show a
broader autism phenotype as a means of
contributing to our understanding of the
peaks and troughs in visual ability for
individuals with the more severe form of
the phenotype.
Islets of ability in autism
While individuals with autism
experience abnormalities or impaired
development in the areas of social

interaction and communication, in

conjunction with a restricted repertoire of
activities
and
interests
(American
Psychiatric Association, 2000), they have
been shown to outperform typically
developing individuals matched for
general ability on particular visuo-spatial
tasks. For instance, Shah and Frith (1983)
demonstrated superior performance in an
autism spectrum disordered (ASD)
population on the Embedded Figures Test
(EFT). The EFT requires an individual to
locate a simple shape hidden within a more
complex, meaningful figure (see Figure 1).
An enhanced ability to detect embedded
figures has been consistently replicated
since Shah and Friths initial study (eg.
Morgan, Maybery, & Durkin, 2003;
Pellicano, Maybery, Durkin, & Maley,
2006).
Explaining islets of ability in autism
Two theories have been suggested
to account for these islets of ability in
ASD; the Weak Central Coherence (WCC)
account (Frith, 1989), and the Enhanced
Local Processing (ELP) theory (Mottron,
Dawson, Soulires, Hubert, & Burack,
2006; Plaisted, Saksida, Alcntara, &
Weisblatt, 2003). Central coherence is
conceptualised as the normal cognitive
tendency to process information for
meaning or the tendency to process
information globally at the expense of the
details (Happ, Briskman, & Frith, 2001)1.
WCC theory suggests that individuals with
1

Happ and Frith (2006) have recently revised

their position on WCC theory and no longer
consider global processing to be impaired in
autism. Rather, they argue for superior local
processing in autism, resulting in the predictions
derived from the revised theory being relatively
indistinguishable from those drawn from Enhanced
Local Processing theory. We continue to endorse
the original version of WCC, because, as the
evidence reviewed below suggests, there are
several areas of research demonstrating impaired
global processing consistent with the original WCC
theory but not the revised position.

Figure 1. An illustration from a trial of the Childrens

Embedded Figures Test. Children are required to locate
the hidden triangle in the complex figure as quickly as
possible (Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, & Karp, 1971)

ASD demonstrate a relative failure to

extract the overall meaning of stimuli,
resulting in heightened awareness of the
parts of stimuli. This failure to extract
global form can account for performance
on tasks such as Embedded Figures test in
that it suggests that people with ASD do
not succumb to the gestalt and so can
easily see the design in terms of its
constituent parts. In contrast, a typically
developing individual first must overcome
the tendency to perceive the test stimulus
as a global form, in order to focus on the
separate parts and achieve successful
performance (Happ, 1999).
The ELP theory proposes, too, that
there is a bias towards processing stimuli
in terms of their parts, but unlike the WCC
hypothesis, this alternative theory asserts
that global processing remains intact in
autism. This theory accounts for the
superior EFT performance in ASD by
maintaining that a local strategy is a
preference used to the advantage of these
individuals. Evidence for this theory
comes from reports of unimpaired global
processing in visual processing tasks
(Caron, Mottron, Berthiaume, & Dawson,
2006; Mottron et al., 1999; Mottron,
Burack, Iarocci, Belleville, & Enns, 2003;
laisted, O'Riordan, & Baron-Cohen, 1998).

Thus, two explanations of the

visual processing abnormalities in autism
have arisen. The discrepancies between the
two may be explained by the fact that there
has previously been no consensus among
researchers as to how global processing
should be operationalised in such cognitive
tasks. It is for this reason that
psychophysical tasks have been employed
to investigate the nature of visual
perception in autism. The benefit of this
alternative is that the processes invoked by
visual psychophysical tests are better
understood,
both
functionally
and
neuroanatomically, which allows for a
more precise conceptualisation of local
and global processing in the visual system.

Thus the dorsal pathway is associated with

motion perception (Livingstone & Hubel,
1987; Zeki, 1978). In addition, there are
two main stages that occur in the
perception of both form and motion
stimuli. The perception of the individual
parts of stimuli, or local processing,
initially is thought to occur in the primary
visual cortex (V1) (Braddick, Atkinson, &
Wattam-Bell, 2003). The integration of the
parts to form a coherent percept, or global
processing, first occurs in area V4 of the
ventral stream (Wilson & Wilkinson,
1998), and V3 and V5 of the dorsal stream
(Braddick et al., 2003) (see Table 1).
Performance on psychophysical tests of
vision in autism

The human visual system

The human cortical visual system
has frequently been conceptualised as two
specialised, but linked pathways: the
dorsal and ventral streams (Kaplan, 2004).
The main input to the ventral stream is
from the pre-cortical parvocellular system,
which is sensitive to a higher range of
spatial frequencies and stationary or slow
moving targets, resulting in this pathway
being implicated in form perception
(Ungerleider
&
Mishkin,
1982).
Conversely, the main input to the dorsal
stream is from the magnocellular system,
which is sensitive to a lower (but
overlapping) range of spatial frequencies
with a higher temporal resolution and
moving or flickering targets.

Interestingly, several studies report

an impairment in motion processing in the
ASD population based on performance on
tasks assessing global processing in the
dorsal visual pathway (Milne et al., 2002;
Milne et al., 2006; Pellicano, Gibson,
Maybery, Durkin, & Badcock, 2005;
Spencer et al., 2000; Spencer & O'Brien,
2006). All of these studies employed
Global Dot Motion (GDM) stimuli to
assess motion processing. A GDM task
involves sparse fields of dots in which a
randomly selected subset of the dots move
coherently in a certain direction at each
frame transition while the remaining dots
move in random directions (Edwards &
Badcock, 1996). An individuals motion
coherence threshold is calculated by
determining the lowest proportion of dots

Table 1. Summary of the main inputs, cell preferences, functions and global processing areas of both the dorsal
and ventral visual streams

Dorsal Stream

Ventral Stream

Main input

Magnocellular system

Parvocellular system

Cell preferences
Main function

Lower range of spatial

frequencies; moving or
flickering stimuli
Motion perception

Higher range of spatial

frequencies; stationary or
slow moving stimuli
Form perception

Global processing area

V3 & V5

V4

required to move coherently for the

observer to correctly identify the direction
of motion in the display. A high motion
coherence threshold with normal detection
of the motion of a simple stimulus
indicates impairment in global processing
in the dorsal pathway (Newsome & Par,
1988). Initially, it was posited that
individuals with autism exhibit a general
dorsal stream impairment (Milne et al.,
2002). According to this position,
individuals with autism should show
deficits at both local and global levels of
the dorsal stream.
Research conducted in our
laboratory by Pellicano et al. (2005)
investigated the dorsal stream impairment
hypothesis by administering a flicker
contrast sensitivity task to test lower-level
dorsal stream functioning, and also a GDM
task, to 20 ASD and 20 typically
developing individuals. Pellicano et al.
(2005) reported that the children with ASD
had equivalent flicker contrast sensitivity
thresholds to the age- and non-verbal IQmatched children (indicative of intact
lower-level magnocellular functioning) but
significantly higher global motion
thresholds (indicative of impaired higherlevel dorsal-stream functioning). The
dorsal
stream
impairment
account
(Braddick et al., 2003) is unable to explain
these findings given that the main form of
input to that pathway, the magno-cells,
was functioning as normal in children with
ASD. In addition, these results are not
readily explained by the ELP theory since
global integration of signals was found to
be impaired. Rather, the impaired global
processing seen in the dorsal stream is
more consistent with WCC theory, which
predicts that this population would have
difficulty integrating the individual
elements in a GDM display into a coherent
percept.
The EFT relies predominantly on
the ventral visual stream as it is a form
rather than motion stimulus. Thus, in order
to assess which theory (i.e., WCC or ELP)

Figure 3. An example of Glass pattern stimuli, with 100%

coherent pattern on the left and 0% coherent pattern on the
right. The observers task is to choose which side contains the
concentric-oriented pattern

explains best the superior performance of

individuals with autism on this task, one
must also examine ventral stream
functioning in ASD. Given that both the
WCC and ELP theories are not pathway
specific, it is reasonable to expect a
similar pattern of performance to occur as
seen in the dorsal stream on tasks tapping
the ventral stream. Recently, Spencer and
OBrien (2006) reported higher thresholds
in an ASD group on a Glass pattern
detection task designed to assess global
processing in the ventral stream (but see
Milne et al., 2006 and Spencer et al.,
2000). Glass patterns consist of pairs of
dots, a proportion of which are oriented
relative to imaginary lines projecting from
the centre of the image to create a pattern
(see Figure 3). Given inconsistencies
between the research, it is still unclear as
to whether the WCC or ELP theory
accounts better for the pattern of results in
the ventral pathway.
Thus, it is currently not possible to
distinguish between the WCC and ELP
theories in respect of the pattern of
strengths and weaknesses in visual
processing seen in autism. One issue that
may have impacted on the ability of the
research to come to a distinct conclusion is
the lack of power in the studies. Limited
power may be especially important since it
has been suggested that only a subgroup of
children with ASD may be affected by
motion processing difficulties (Milne et
al., 2006). One way to overcome the

relative difficulties in testing an ASD

population owing to the need to match
participants on several variables such as
chronological age and verbal and nonverbal intelligence, is to examine visual
processing in individuals with the broader
autism phenotype.
Characteristics of the Broader Autism
Phenotype
Many researchers now see autism,
Aspergers syndrome and pervasive
developmental disordernot otherwise
specified as lying on a continuum, with
autism at one end and typical development
at the other. Evidence for the existence of
this autism spectrum comes from
research providing evidence that ASD is of
genetic origin (Rutter, 2000) and that the
liability for autism confers a risk among
relatives for subtle combinations of social
and
communication
impairments
(Constantino et al., 2006) or repetitive and
stereotyped interests (Murphy et al., 2000;
Piven & Folstein, 1994). As such, some
family members of individuals with ASD
possess traits with a severity that falls
below the clinical threshold for a
diagnosis. These family members are
defined as part of the broader autism
phenotype (BAP) (Bailey, Palferman,
Heavey, & Le Couteur, 1998), along with
individuals in the general population who
demonstrate sub-clinical traits also found
in autism.
While not yet conclusive, recent
research has begun to suggest that the BAP
exhibits a similar profile of performance
on cognitive tests of local and global
processing to that seen in autism. For
instance, we have found that university
students scoring high on the AutismSpectrum Quotient (AQ) (Baron-Cohen,
Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley,
2001) demonstrated superior performance
on both the Embedded Figures Task and
the Block Design subscale of the WAIS-III
relative to low AQ scorers (Van Beek et

al., 2007) (but see Kunihira et al., 2006,

who found no difference between Japanese
AQ groups on the EFT). In addition,
Bayliss and Tipper (2005) found that high
AQ scorers oriented more to scrambled
images, in contrast to low AQ scorers who
oriented to holistic faces, suggesting a bias
for orienting to local details. Given the
similar phenotypic presentations, it is
therefore pertinent to use the much larger,
easily accessible and more diverse BAP
population to inform our understanding of
the etiology of ASD.
Visual performance in the broader
autism phenotype
With respect to accounting for the
peaks and troughs in visual performance
seen in both autism and the broader autism
phenotype, current research has used
visual psychophysical methods similar to
those mentioned above. With the aim of
replicating the research in autism, we
measured EFT performance and dorsal
pathway global processing thresholds
using GDM stimuli, in both low and high
AQ groups (Grinter et al., 2007). More
importantly, a second aim was to
determine whether WCC or ELP
characterises visual performance in the
ventral visual pathway. This was achieved
by determining Glass pattern thresholds as
an indicator of global processing, and
measuring the performance of the
parvocellular pathway, using a pulsedpedestal task (Pokorny & Smith, 1997), as
an indicator of lower-level processing in
the ventral pathway. The pulsed-pedestal
task briefly presents four squares on a
screen, and the participants task is to
select which one of the squares is brighter
than the other three (see Figure 4).
Accordingly it was predicted that the high
AQ group would have higher thresholds
than the low AQ group on the Glass
pattern
task
but
would

Figure 4. An example of the pulsed-pedestal stimuli.

Participants initially adapt to the background luminance as
shown on the left for 1 min before beginning the task, and
again for 1sec before presentation of the squares. The 4
squares are presented for 30ms and the participants task is
to choose which side of the stimulus contains the square
with a brighter luminance level.

not differ from the low AQ group on the

pulsed-pedestal task if WCC characterises
visual performance in the BAP.
Conversely, if ELP is the more appropriate
explanation, then it may be predicted that
the parvocellular functioning would be
superior in the high AQ group compared to
the low AQ group because no explicitly
global processes are involved in the
pedestal task, but performance on the
Glass pattern detection

task should be characterised by either no

difference between the two groups or, less
likely, superior performance in the high
AQ group as a result of greater sensitivity
in local processing flowing on to enhance
global processing ability (see Table 2).
We tested 29 low and 26 high AQ
scorers from the University of Western
Australia. The participants were of similar
age, gender or non-verbal intelligence (as
measured by the Ravens Advanced
Progressive Matrices). Consistent with
Van Beek et al. (2007), we found that
individuals scoring high on the AQ were
significantly faster to detect embedded
figures than the low AQ scorers. In
concordance with the autism literature,
individuals with high AQ scores
performed significantly more poorly (i.e.
had higher thresholds) on the GDM task
relative to individuals with low AQ scores.
Most importantly, while there was no
difference between the two groups in
parvocellular functioning, the high AQ
group obtained significantly higher
thresholds on the Glass pattern detection
task than the low AQ group. The level for

Table 2. Summary of the WCC & ELP theories and comparison of the empirical predictions made by each theory
on the tasks used by Grinter et al (2007).

Theoretical summary

Embedded Figures Task

Global Dot Motion
Pulsed-pedestal task
Glass Pattern Detection

Weak Central Coherence

Enhanced Local Processing

Individuals on the autism

spectrum have a weakness in
perceiving stimuli in global
form, resulting in inferior
global processing ability and
often a superior local
processing ability as this
becomes the default
mechanism
High AQ faster than low AQ

Global processing is intact in

individuals on the autism
spectrum, but they have a
preference for local
processing, hence they should
be superior on locally-based
tasks but no different on
global processing tasks.

High AQ higher thresholds

(poorer) than low AQ
High AQ no different from
low AQ
High AQ higher thresholds
(poorer) than low AQ

High AQ no different from

low AQ
High AQ lower thresholds
(superior) to low AQ
High AQ no different from
low AQ, or superior to low
AQ

High AQ faster than low AQ

significance was p < .05 for all group

comparisons. Given these findings, it was
concluded that individuals with the
broader autism phenotype have a weakness
in integrating visual information at higher
levels of the ventral visual stream,
consistent with WCC rather than ELP.
The broader autism phenotype and
autism
The first aim of our study was
achieved. That is, we replicated in our
BAP sample the results obtained for
people with autism on the global dot
motion tasks (Milne et al., 2002; Milne et
al., 2006; Pellicano, Gibson, Maybery,
Durkin, & Badcock, 2005; Spencer et al.,
2000; Spencer & O'Brien, 2006). Thus, it
is clear that individuals scoring high on the
AQ share visual processing characteristics
with individuals with an ASD diagnosis.
This provides a sound rationale for using
the BAP to enhance our understanding of
autism. In the current instance, this
reasoning was used to assist in clarifying
an issue that has as yet remained
unresolved. In relation to the second aim
of the study, we were able to provide
evidence suggesting that individuals with
the broader autism phenotype experience
difficulties combining local visual
information into coherent wholes in the
ventral stream, as well as replicating
strengths in embedded figures detection
and weaknesses in global motion
perception. In general, these results
suggest that there appears to be a weakness
associated with the BAP and ASD in
integrating information at higher levels in
both the dorsal and ventral streams,
without there necessarily being superior
processing at lower levels of the visual
system. Superior performance associated
with autism and the BAP on the EFT
might therefore reflect reduced global
processing, which means less difficulty
overcoming the gestalt in segmenting
displays. This therefore suggests that the

WCC theory is better able to account for

the unique profile of strengths and
weakness in both cognitive and
psychophysical tests of ability in BAP, and
potentially, individuals with the more
severe form of the autism phenotype.
Understanding of the autism
spectrum is therefore enhanced using a
combination of clinically diagnosed and
broader phenotype individuals. With
reference to autism, WCC may help
explain features of the disorder, such as
difficulties in using social cues as a result
of being unable to combine information
between faces and body language, and
preoccupations with particular objects and
their parts. In relation to the broader
autism phenotype, WCC may help explain
the predominance of high AQ scoring
individuals in the mathematical sciences
occupations. Being able to pay attention to
detail, think analytically, and break things
down into parts, are characteristics of
WCC that are useful skills to have in these
occupations (Happ et al., 2001). Any
social and communication impairments
experienced by such individuals may not
be to the extent experienced by someone
with autism and hence would not impede
their ability to interact in typical social
situations.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by NH&MRC
Project Grant 403942 to M. Maybery, D.
Badcock, J. Badcock and E. Pellicano. We
are also grateful to Judith Cullity for her
assistance
in
programming
the
experimental protocols.
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