TY - JOUR
T1 - Visuospatial working memory in children with autism: The effect of a semantic global organization
AU - Hamilton, Colin
AU - Mammarella, Irene
AU - Giofrè, David
AU - Caviola, Sara
AU - Comoldi, Cesare
N1 - Published online ahead of print
PY - 2014/4/3
Y1 - 2014/4/3
N2 - It has been reported that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) perceive visual scenes as a sparse set of details rather than as a congruent and meaningful unit, failing in the extraction of the global configuration of the scene. In the present study, children with ASD were compared with typically developing (TD) children, in a visuospatial working memory task, the Visual Patterns Test (VPT). The VPT array was manipulated to vary the semantic affordance of the pattern, high semantic (global) vs. low semantic; temporal parameters were also manipulated within the change detection protocol. Overall, there was no main effect associated with Group, however there was a significant effect associated with Semantics, which was further qualified by an interaction between the Group and Semantic factors; there was only a significant effect of semantics in the TD group. The findings are discussed in light of the weak central coherence theory where the ASD group are unable to make use of long term memory semantics in order to construct global representations of the array.
AB - It has been reported that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) perceive visual scenes as a sparse set of details rather than as a congruent and meaningful unit, failing in the extraction of the global configuration of the scene. In the present study, children with ASD were compared with typically developing (TD) children, in a visuospatial working memory task, the Visual Patterns Test (VPT). The VPT array was manipulated to vary the semantic affordance of the pattern, high semantic (global) vs. low semantic; temporal parameters were also manipulated within the change detection protocol. Overall, there was no main effect associated with Group, however there was a significant effect associated with Semantics, which was further qualified by an interaction between the Group and Semantic factors; there was only a significant effect of semantics in the TD group. The findings are discussed in light of the weak central coherence theory where the ASD group are unable to make use of long term memory semantics in order to construct global representations of the array.
KW - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
KW - Central coherence theory
KW - Semantic organization
KW - Visuospatial working memory (VSWM)
UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24705488
U2 - 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.030
DO - 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.030
M3 - Article
VL - 35
SP - 1349
EP - 1356
JO - Research in Developmental Disabilities
JF - Research in Developmental Disabilities
SN - 0891-4222
IS - 6
ER -