Strengths and weaknesses in perpetual processing in autism : an investigation of central coherence

The literature regarding Gestalt ideas about perceptual organisation is reviewed. The global/local paradigm has suggested that in typical development global properties of visual stimuli are processed first, followed by local properties. This Gestalt paradigm has been applied to explain the atypical perceptual abilities seen in autism. Clinical observations and empirical findings have suggested that individuals with autism take a more piecemeal approach to perceiving things within their environment. Perception of this kind has been explained by the suggestion that individuals with autism do not integrate information into meaningful representations, therefore showing weak central coherence. This cognitive account of autism can explain the weaknesses as well as the strengths displayed in autism. This study examined whether individuals with autism show weak central coherence, by processing information at a local rather than a global level. Two perceptual tasks were used; one to identify a weakness and one to identify a strength of performance that would result from weak central coherence. For example, children with autism were predicted to show poor performance, compared to matched moderately learning disabled and typically developing controls, on a measure that had high Gestalt content, and where visual context was required to see the stimulus. This task required the participants to recognise biomechanical motions presented in point-light displays. Conversely, children with autism were predicted to show as good or better performance, compared to the control groups, on a task that involved disembedding the local properties of the stimulus. This task was the Children's Embedded Figures Test. The findings supported the hypotheses and were consistent with the central coherence account of autism.