STUDYING WEAK CENTRAL COHERENCE AT LOW-LEVELS - CHILDREN WITH AUTISM DO NOT SUCCUMB TO VISUAL ILLUSIONS - A RESEARCH NOTE

While anecdotal reports of abnormal perceptual experiences in autism a bound, there have been to date no experimental studies showing fundame ntal perceptual peculiarities. The present paper reports results from a first study of low-level visual integration in autism. Twenty-five s ubjects with autism, 21 normal 7- and 8-year-olds, and 26 children wit h learning difficulties were asked to make simple judgements about six well-known visual illusions. Two conditions were used, in an attempt to explore group differences; standard two-dimensional black and white line drawings, and the same figures augmented with raised coloured li nes. The subjects with autism were less likely to succumb to the two-d imensional illusions than were the other groups, and were less aided b y the three-dimensional 'disembedded' condition. These striking result s are discussed with reference to the 'central coherence' account of a utism. Copyright (C) 1996 Association for Child Psychology and Psychia try.