Contextual Learning in Persons with ASD

Background:  

We have proposed that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired implicit learning (e.g., learning that occurs without awareness; Klinger, Klinger, & Pohlig, 2006).  In the present study, we hypothesized that difficulties in contextual learning, a type of implicit learning, would be impaired in ASD. 

Objectives:

The present experiment investigated contextual learning in individuals with ASD and a group of age and verbal-ability matched controls.  We predicted that individuals with ASD would be impaired in their ability to implicitly use contextual relationships in their environment. 

Methods:

Fourteen high-functioning adolescents and young adults with ASD and 13 matched controls completed a visual search task in which the contextual environment predicted the target location.  Participants were told to find Jiminy Cricket (the target) as quickly as possible in a matrix of 36 Disney characters presented on a computer.  They indicated by a button push the quadrant containing the target.  Unknown to participants, target location was predicted by the complex arrangement of the other characters (i.e., the context).   Participants completed eight blocks of 48 trials in which the context predicted the target location followed by a block of trials in which the target location was random, and a final predictable block.

Results:

For this task, learning is seen as the difference in reaction time to the final blocks of predictive trials compared to the block of random trials.  Participants with typical development showed more contextual learning (+100ms) than participants with ASD (+10ms).  This difference was a large (Cohen’s d=1.15) and reliable (p=.004).

Conclusions:

These results suggest that persons with ASD have difficulties in learning implicit, contextual relationships in their environment during a visual search task.  This impairment may be related to difficulties understanding subtle social cues that characterize ASD.