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Global/Local Processing in Autism: Not a Disability, but a Disinclination

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Abstract

It is widely suggested that ASD is characterized by atypical local/global processing, but the published findings are contradictory. In an effort to resolve this question, we tested a large group of children on both a free-choice task and an instructed task using hierarchical local–global stimuli. We find that although children with autism showed a reduced preference to report global properties of a stimulus when given a choice, their ability to process global properties when instructed to do so is unimpaired. These findings support prior claims that people with ASD show a disinclination, not a disability, in global processing, and highlight the broader question of whether other characteristics of autism may also reflect disinclinations rather than disabilities.

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Notes

  1. Congruency effect, or interference, was measured as: (incongruent RT–congruent RT)/congruent RT.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would especially like to thank all the participants and their families for their time and contribution to our research. We are grateful to all of the families at the participating SFARI Simplex Collection (SSC) sites, as well as the principal investigators (A. Beaudet, R. Bernier, J. Constantino, E. Cook, E. Fombonne, D. Geschwind, E. Hanson, D. Grice, A. Klin, R. Kochel, D. Ledbetter, C. Lord, C. Martin, D. Martin, R. Maxim, J. Miles, O. Ousley, K. Pelphrey, B. Peterson, J. Piggot, C. Saulnier, M. State, W. Stone, J. Sutcliffe, C. Walsh, Z. Warren, E. Wijsman). We are also grateful to all of the families participating in the Autism Consortium collection, as well as the principal investigators. This study was supported by funds from the Ellison Medical Foundation and the Simons Foundation.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Author notes

  1. Sarah Weigelt

    Present address: Institut für Psychologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Munster, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Brain and Cognitive Science and McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Building 46 Room 4141 (Kanwisher Lab), Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Kami Koldewyn, Sarah Weigelt & Nancy Kanwisher

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Yuhong V. Jiang

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  1. Kami Koldewyn
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Correspondence to Kami Koldewyn.

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Koldewyn, K., Jiang, Y.V., Weigelt, S. et al. Global/Local Processing in Autism: Not a Disability, but a Disinclination. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 2329–2340 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1777-z

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