Visual information processing in high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their parents

M.V. de Jonge*, C. Kemner, E.H. de Haan, J.E. Coppens, T.J. van den Berg, H. van Engeland

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The authors assessed visual information processing in high-functioning individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and their parents. The authors used tasks for contrast sensitivity, motion, and form perception to test visual processing occurring relatively early and late in the magnocellular-dorsal and parvocellular-ventral pathways. No deficits were found in contrast sensitivity for low or high spatial frequencies or for motion or form perception between individuals with PDD in comparison with a matched control group. Individuals with PDD performed equally with or better than controls on motion detection tasks. In addition, the authors did not find differences on any of the tasks between parents of the PDD group and matched control parents. These results indicate that high-functioning individuals with PDD and their parents are able to process visual stimuli that rely on early or late processing in the magnocellular-dorsal and parvocellular-ventral pathways as well as controls.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)65-73
JournalNeuropsychology
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2007

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