Subjective Perceptual Distortions and Visual Dysfunction in Children with Autism

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 199 - 210
• Main Authors: Davis, Rebecca A. O, Bockbrader, Marcia A, Murphy, Robin R, Hetrick, William P, O'Donnell, Brian F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer 01.02.2006
• Subjects: Adolescent; Autism; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Autistic Disorder - epidemiology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child clinical studies; Children; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Congenital Impairments; Contrast Sensitivity; Developmental disorders; Female; Humans; Infantile autism; Male; Measures (Individuals); Medical sciences; Motion Perception; Neuropsychological Tests; Perception Tests; Perceptual Disorders - diagnosis; Perceptual Disorders - epidemiology; Perceptual impairment; Perceptual Impairments; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychophysics - methods; Questionnaires; Sensory Integration; Signal Detection, Psychological; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vision Tests; Visual Discrimination; Visual Perception; Visual Perception - physiology; Visual perception disorders; Human; Hypersensitivity; motion processing; Distortion; Cognition; Developmental disorder; Contrast; contrast sensitivity; visual system; Autism; Sensitivity; Vision; Adolescent; Information processing; Perception; subjective distortions; Child; sensory profile
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-005-0055-0

Case reports and sensory inventories suggest that autism involves sensory processing anomalies. Behavioral tests indicate impaired motion and normal form perception in autism. The present study used first-person accounts to investigate perceptual anomalies and related subjective to psychophysical measures. Nine high-functioning children with autism and nine typically-developing children were given a questionnaire to assess the frequency of sensory anomalies, as well as psychophysical tests of visual perception. Results indicated that children with autism experience increased perceptual anomalies, deficits in trajectory discrimination consistent with dysfunction in the cortical dorsal pathway or in cerebellar midsagittal vermis, and high spatial frequency contrast impairments consistent with dysfunctional parvocellular processing. Subjective visual hypersensitivity was significantly related to greater deficits across vision tests.