An fMRI-study of locally oriented perception in autism: altered early visual processing of the block design test
Open accessAbstract
Autism has been associated with enhanced local processing on visual tasks. Originally, this was based on findings that individuals with autism exhibited peak performance on the block design test (BDT) from the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. In autism, the neurofunctional correlates of local bias on this test have not yet been established, although there is evidence of alterations in the early visual cortex. Functional MRI was used to analyze hemodynamic responses in the striate and extrastriate visual cortex during BDT performance and a color counting control task in subjects with autism compared to healthy controls. In autism, BDT processing was accompanied by low blood oxygenation level-dependent signal changes in the right ventral quadrant of V2. Findings indicate that, in autism, locally oriented processing of the BDT is associated with altered responses of angle and grating-selective neurons, that contribute to shape representation, figure-ground, and gestalt organization. The findings favor a low-level explanation of BDT performance in autism.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Bölte et al. (2008) found that the most significant result was a reduction in the activation of V2v between ASD and control groups while performing the BDT, despite equivalent behavioural performance.
“The most significant result was a reduction in the activation of V2v between ASD and control groups while performing the BDT, despite equivalent behavioural performance.”
From Vision in autism spectrum disorders (2009) · cites this paper as Bölte et al. (2008)
Cites
Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02172145 · Cited by 9,065 · see citing works
The weak coherence account: detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders
Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0 · Cited by 2,884 · see citing works
Enhanced Perceptual Functioning in Autism: An Update, and Eight Principles of Autistic Perception
Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulières, I., Hubert, B., & Burack, J. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0040-7 · Cited by 1,957 · see citing works
Advances in the Psychology of Human Intelligence
Sternberg, R. J. (2014) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315808246 · Cited by 1,771 · see citing works
WAIS-R manual : Wechsler adult intelligence scale-revised
Wechsler, D. (1981) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,575 · see citing works
Advances in the psychology of human intelligence
Eysenck, H. J. (1983) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/0005-7967(83)90111-0 · Cited by 1,563 · see citing works
Castelli, F. (2002) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awf189 · Cited by 1,377 · see citing works
Why Do Autistic Individuals Show Superior Performance on the Block Design Task?
Shah, A., & Uta Frith, A. (1993) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1993.tb02095.x · Cited by 941 · see citing works
An islet of ability in autistic children: a research note
Shah, A., & Frith, U. (1983) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1983.tb00137.x · Cited by 888 · see citing works
The functional neuroanatomy of social behaviour
Critchley, H. D., Daly, E. M., Bullmore, E. T., Williams, S. C. R., Van Amelsvoort, T., Robertson, D. M., Rowe, A., Phillips, M., McAlonan, G., Howlin, P., et al. (2000) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/123.11.2203 · Cited by 816 · see citing works
Vagaries of Visual Perception in Autism
Dakin, S. C., & Frith, U. (2005) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.10.018 · Cited by 763 · see citing works
The level and nature of autistic intelligence
Dawson, M., Soulières, I., Ann Gernsbacher, M., & Mottron, L. (2007) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01954.x · Cited by 549 · see citing works
Bertone, A., Mottron, L., Jelenic, P., & Faubert, J. (2005) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awh561 · Cited by 536 · see citing works
The development of autism: Perspectives from theory and research.
Howlin, P. (2002) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.t01-9-00044 · Cited by 526 · see citing works
Selective visual attention and perceptual coherence
Serences, J. T., & Yantis, S. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.11.008 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
Specializations of the Human Brain
Geschwind, N. (1979) · Scientific American · doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0979-180 · Cited by 422 · see citing works
Plaisted, K., Swettenham, J., & Rees, L. (1999) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00489 · Cited by 409 · see citing works
A Five- to Fifteen-Year Follow-up Study of Infantile Psychosis
Lockyer, L., & Rutter, M. L. (1969) · The British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.115.525.865 · Cited by 407 · see citing works
Plaisted, K. C., Swettenham, J., & Rees, L. (1999) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1017/s0021963099004102 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Figure and Ground in the Visual Cortex: V2 Combines Stereoscopic Cues with Gestalt Rules
Qiu, F. T., & von der Heydt, R. (2005) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.05.028 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Burack, J. A., Charman, T., Yirmiya, N., & Zelazo, P. R. (2001) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781410600196 · Cited by 323 · see citing works
Asperger's Syndrome and Autism: Neurocognitive Aspects
Szatmári, P., TUFF, L., Finlayson, M. J. A., & Bartolucci, G. (1990) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-199001000-00021 · Cited by 320 · see citing works
Villalobos, M. E., Mizuno, A., Dahl, B. C., Kemmotsu, N., & Müller, R.-A. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.12.022 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
Cerebral correlates of preserved cognitive skills in autism
RING, H. A., Baron‐Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S. J., Williams, S., Brammer, M. J., Andrew, C., & Bullmore, E. T. (1999) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/122.7.1305 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Wechsler IQ profiles in diagnosis of high-functioning autism
Siegel, D. J., Minshew, N. J., & Goldstein, G. (1996) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02172825 · Cited by 303 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Today, it is well known that individuals with autism show absolute or relative peaks on the BDT (Lockyer and Rutter 1969; Tymchuk et al. 1977; Shah and Frith 1983, 1993; Asarnow et al. 1987; Lincoln et al. 1988; Szatmari et al. 1990; Allen et al. 1991; Happ� 1994; R€ et al. 1995; Siegel et al. 1996 ).”
BackgroundGraded Functional Activation in the Visuospatial System with the Amount of Task Demand
Carpenter, P. A., Just, M. A., Keller, T. A., Eddy, W., & Thulborn, K. R. (1999) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892999563210 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
Functional imbalance of visual pathways indicates alternative face processing strategies in autism
Hubl, D., Bölte, S., Feineis–Matthews, S., Lanfermann, H., Federspiel, A., Strik, W., Poustka, F., & Dierks, T. (2003) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000091862.22033.1a · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Self-citationBurkhalter, A., & Essen, D. C. V. (1986) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.06-08-02327.1986 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Cognitive mechanisms, specificity and neural underpinnings of visuospatial peaks in autism
Caron, M.-J. (2006) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awl072 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Representation of Angles Embedded within Contour Stimuli in Area V2 of Macaque Monkeys
Ito, M., & Komatsu, H. (2004) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4364-03.2004 · Cited by 273 · see citing works
A Hierarchical Axis of Object Processing Stages in the Human Visual Cortex
Lerner, Y. (2001) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/11.4.287 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
Functional anatomy of impaired selective attention and compensatory processing in autism
Belmonte, M. K., & Yurgelun-Todd, D. A. (2003) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/s0926-6410(03)00189-7 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
Wechsler IQ profile and theory of mind in autism: A research note
Happé, F. G. E. (1994) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1994.tb01287.x · Cited by 252 · see citing works
Processing of color, form, and motion in macaque area V2
Gegenfurtner, K. R., Kiper, D., & Fenstemaker, S. B. (1996) · Visual Neuroscience · doi:10.1017/s0952523800007203 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Warrington, E. K., James, M., & Maciejewski, C. (1986) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/0028-3932(86)90055-2 · Cited by 230 · see citing works
A study of intellectual abilities in high-functioning people with autism
Lincoln, A. J., Courchesne, E., Kilman, B. A., Elmasian, R., & Allen, M. H. (1988) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02211870 · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Reduced Generalization in Autism: An Alternative to Weak Central Coherence
Plaisted, K. C. (2001) · Apollo (University of Cambridge) · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Attention does not modulate neural responses to social stimuli in autism spectrum disorders
Bird, G., Catmur, C., Silani, G., Frith, C., & Uta Frith, A. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.02.037 · Cited by 201 · see citing works
Hemispheric perception of emotional valence from facial expressions.
Adolphs, R., Jansari, A. S., & Tranel, D. (2001) · Neuropsychology · doi:10.1037/0894-4105.15.4.516 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Enhanced Salience and Emotion Recognition in Autism: A PET Study
Hall, G. B., Szechtman, H., & Nahmias, C. (2003) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.160.8.1439 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Gestalt perception and local–global processing in high-functioning autism
Bölte, S., Holtmann, M., Poustka, F., Scheurich, A., & Schmidt, L. (2007) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0231-x · Cited by 185 · see citing works
Self-citationBrosnan, M., Gullon-Scott, F., Fox, S., & Pye, J. (2004) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00237.x · Cited by 181 · see citing works
A Comparative Study of Shape Representation in Macaque Visual Areas V2 and V4
Hegdé, J., & Essen, D. C. V. (2006) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhl020 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Neurophysiological correlates of relatively enhanced local visual search in autistic adolescents
Manjaly, Z. M., Bruning, N., Neufang, S., Stephan, K. E., Brieber, S., Marshall, J. C., Kamp-Becker, I., Remschmidt, H., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B., Konrad, K., et al. (2007) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.11.036 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Kimmig, H., Greenlee, M., Gondan, M., Schira, M., Kassubek, J., & Mergner, T. (2001) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s002210100844 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Perceptual grouping and the interactions between visual cortical areas
Murray, S. O., Schrater, P., & Kersten, D. (2004) · Neural Networks · doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2004.03.010 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Performance
Chase, T. N. (1984) · Archives of Neurology · doi:10.1001/archneur.1984.04050230026012 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
fMRI of parents of children with Asperger Syndrome: A pilot study
Baron‐Cohen, S., RING, H. A., Chitnis, X. A., Wheelwright, S. J., Gregory, L. J., Williams, S., Brammer, M. J., & Bullmore, E. T. (2006) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2005.12.011 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
PATTERNS OF INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING IN NON‐RETARDED AUTISTIC AND SCHIZOPHRENIC CHILDREN
Asarnow, R. F., Tanguay, P. E., Bott, L., & Freeman, B. J. (1987) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1987.tb00210.x · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Ventral posterior visual area of the macaque: Visual topography and areal boundaries
Newsome, W. T., Maunsell, J. H. R., & Essen, D. C. V. (1986) · The Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.902520202 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Iarocci, G., Burack, J. A., Shore, D. I., Mottron, L., & Enns, J. T. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-005-0045-2 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Allen, M. H., Lincoln, A. J., & Kaufman, A. S. (1991) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02206872 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Eye Movement and Visual Search: Are There Elementary Abnormalities in Autism?
Brenner, L. A., Turner, K. C., & Müller, R. (2006) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0277-9 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Hazlett, E. A., Buchsbaum, M. S., Hsieh, P., Haznedar, M. M., Platholi, J., LiCalzi, E. M., Cartwright, C., & Hollander, E. (2004) · Neuropsychobiology · doi:10.1159/000076719 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
V2 Thin Stripes Contain Spatially Organized Representations of Achromatic Luminance Change
Wang, Y., Xiao, Y., & Felleman, D. J. (2006) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhj131 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Performance Characteristics of Postacute Traumatic Brain Injury Patients on the WAIS-III and WMS-III
Axelrod, B. N., Fichtenberg, N. L., Liethen, P. C., Czarnota, M., & Stucky, K. J. (2001) · The Clinical Neuropsychologist · doi:10.1076/clin.15.4.516.1884 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Visual Cortex: The Continuing Puzzle of Area V2
Boynton, G. M., & Hegdé, J. (2004) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2004.06.044 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENT CHILDHOOD PSYCHOTICS WITH HIGH VERBAL ABILITY
Tymchuk, A. J., Simmons, J. Q., & Neafsey, S. S. (1977) · Journal of Intellectual Disability Research · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.1977.tb00033.x · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Wilde, M. C., Boake, C., & Sherer, M. (2000) · Applied Neuropsychology · doi:10.1207/s15324826an0704_2 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Qualitative Block Design Performance in Epilepsy Patients
Zipf-Williams, E. M., Shear, P. K., Strongin, D., et al. (2000) · Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology · doi:10.1093/arclin/15.2.149 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
[The intelligence structure of autistic persons].
Rühl, D., Werner, K., & Poustka, F. (1995) · PubMed · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationIntegration of Color Information in Macaque Area V2
Gegenfurtner, K., Kiper, D. C., & Fenstemaker, S. (1995) · MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Bush (1998) · doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-0193(1998)6:4
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Precise minds in uncertain worlds: Predictive coding in autism.
Van de Cruys, S., Evers, K., Van der Hallen, R., Van Eylen, L., Boets, B., de-Wit, L., & Wagemans, J. (2014) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0037665 · Cited by 885 · see citing works
Vision in autism spectrum disorders
Simmons, D. R., Robertson, A. E., McKay, L. S., Toal, E., McAleer, P., & Pollick, F. E. (2009) · Vision Research · doi:10.1016/j.visres.2009.08.005 · Cited by 827 · see citing works
Bölte, S., Duketis, E., Poustka, F., & Holtmann, M. (2011) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361310391116 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Self-citationVisuo-Spatial Performance in Autism: A Meta-analysis
Muth, A., Hönekopp, J., & Falter, C. M. (2014) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2188-5 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Libero, L. E., Stevens, C. E., & Kana, R. K. (2014) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.22544 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bölte, S., Hubl, D., Dierks, T., Holtmann, M., & Poustka, F.
- Affiliations
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- University Hospital of Bern (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Bölte, S.
- Venue
- Journal of Neural Transmission
- Published
- 2008-02-26
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 545-552
- ISSN
- 0300-9564 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-1463
- OpenAlex
- W2036673089
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- boris.unibe.ch
- Licence
- other-oa
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Neural Transmission (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BORIS (University Library Bern) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, local processing bias, Block Design Test, early visual processing, V2, primary visual cortex, extrastriate cortex, shape representation, figure-ground perception
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Autistic Disorder, Brain Mapping, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Photic Stimulation, Visual Perception
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
