Slowed Search in the Context of Unimpaired Grouping in Autism: Evidence from Multiple Conjunction Search

Abstract

In multiple conjunction search, the target is not known in advance but is defined only with respect to the distractors in a given search array, thus reducing the contributions of bottom-up and top-down attentional and perceptual processes during search. This study investigated whether the superior visual search skills typically demonstrated by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) would be evident in multiple conjunction search. Thirty-two children with ASD and 32 age- and nonverbal IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children were administered a multiple conjunction search task. Contrary to findings from the large majority of studies on visual search in ASD, response times of individuals with ASD were significantly slower than those of their TD peers. Evidence of slowed performance in ASD suggests that the mechanisms responsible for superior ASD performance in other visual search paradigms are not available in multiple conjunction search. Although the ASD group failed to exhibit superior performance, they showed efficient search and intertrial priming levels similar to the TD group. Efficient search indicates that ASD participants were able to group distractors into distinct subsets. In summary, while demonstrating grouping and priming effects comparable to those exhibited by their TD peers, children with ASD were slowed in their performance on a multiple conjunction search task, suggesting that their usual superior performance in visual search tasks is specifically dependent on top-down and/or bottom-up attentional and perceptual processes.

Disentangling signal and noise in autism spectrum disorder

“…It actually pays off to amplify the odd one out in this task. However, as a recent study by Keehn and Joseph (2016) pointed out, when the target is not known in advance people with ASD lose their advantage and actually perform worse, consistent with the current conception.…”

The “Primitive Brain Dysfunction” Theory of Autism: The Superior Colliculus Role

“…While overt attention is essentially directed at a single target, cover attention analyzes several stimuli at once. A number of authors have also pointed to deficits in divided attention during complex events requiring the simultaneous analysis of various factors (Murray et al, 2005 ; Fletcher-Watson et al, 2008 ; Jaworski and Eigsti, 2015 ; Keehn and Joseph, 2016 ; Unruh et al, 2016 ; Bolis and Schilbach, 2017 ; Arora et al, 2022 ). Social events are the most demanding, as they require simultaneous attention to the internal state of the individual, to the environment, to the behaviors of others, and even to the hidden logic or real intentions behind such behaviors.…”

Visual Search Performance Does Not Relate to Autistic Traits in the General Population

“…Next, one notable aspect of our study was that the target was defined on a trial-to-trial basis, rather than being predefined and fixed across several trials. Interestingly, using the same approach as the current experiment, Keehn and Joseph ( 2016 ) recently found that children with ASD were marginally worse than controls in conjunctive search. While we cannot rule out the possibility that this aspect of our experiment is relevant for the result, it is noteworthy that the above-mentioned previous study by Gregory and Plaisted-Grant ( 2016 ) on the relation between AQ and visual search in adults without autism failed to find an association despite using predefined and fixed targets.…”