Objectives: To determine whether the magnitude of autistic traits is associated with attentional biases to objects and whether this bias, if it exists, is a function of engagement towards nonsocial objects or a disengagement from human bodies.
Methods: Male and female observers (n=14, mean age 20.1), completed a modified dot-probe task to assess attentional biases across scenes containing human bodies and objects. After a fixation is presented, a body of the same gender as the observer was presented simultaneously with an object (coke bottle) one above the other (location counterbalanced). After 500ms, the body and object disappeared and an arrow appeared (arrow direction and location counterbalanced) in the previous location of one of the stimuli. Participants reported arrow direction with a key press. Reaction times in correct trials were analyzed to determine whether observers showed an attentional bias towards human bodies or coke bottles. Observers also completed a control baseline condition in which they observed two bodies or two bottles presented simultaneously. Attentional bias scores computed from these trials will determine whether observers are engaging or disengaging from the targeted stimulus. Autistic-like traits were measured using the AQ.
Results: All subjects scored below the level of classification for autistic traits (AQ>32) on the AQ (M=19.9, SD= 5.0). Correlations revealed a significant relationship between AQ scores and an attentional bias towards objects r(12)=.495, p=.036. Increased autistic traits in typical observers were associated with increased visual attentional biases towards coke bottles.
Conclusions: The strong relationship observed between autistic traits and selective attention to nonsocial objects support the hypothesis that a failure to attend to socially relevant stimuli may underlie social impairments related to autism. Future studies with observers with ASD are needed to further examine the extent of this relationship and its contribution to the ASD phenotype.
See more of: Cognition and Behavior
See more of: Symptoms, Diagnosis & Phenotype