Global motion perception deficits in autism are reflected as early as primary visual cortex
Open accessAbstract
Individuals with autism are often characterized as 'seeing the trees, but not the forest'-attuned to individual details in the visual world at the expense of the global percept they compose. Here, we tested the extent to which global processing deficits in autism reflect impairments in (i) primary visual processing; or (ii) decision-formation, using an archetypal example of global perception, coherent motion perception. In an event-related functional MRI experiment, 43 intelligence quotient and age-matched male participants (21 with autism, age range 15-27 years) performed a series of coherent motion perception judgements in which the amount of local motion signals available to be integrated into a global percept was varied by controlling stimulus viewing duration (0.2 or 0.6 s) and the proportion of dots moving in the correct direction (coherence: 4%, 15%, 30%, 50%, or 75%). Both typical participants and those with autism evidenced the same basic pattern of accuracy in judging the direction of motion, with performance decreasing with reduced coherence and shorter viewing durations. Critically, these effects were exaggerated in autism: despite equal performance at the long duration, performance was more strongly reduced by shortening viewing duration in autism (P < 0.015) and decreasing stimulus coherence (P < 0.008). To assess the neural correlates of these effects we focused on the responses of primary visual cortex and the middle temporal area, critical in the early visual processing of motion signals, as well as a region in the intraparietal sulcus thought to be involved in perceptual decision-making. The behavioural results were mirrored in both primary visual cortex and the middle temporal area, with a greater reduction in response at short, compared with long, viewing durations in autism compared with controls (both P < 0.018). In contrast, there was no difference between the groups in the intraparietal sulcus (P > 0.574). These findings suggest that reduced global motion perception in autism is driven by an atypical response early in visual processing and may reflect a fundamental perturbation in neural circuitry.
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In a motion coherence task, individuals with autism spectrum disorder show reduced activation in primary visual cortex and middle temporal area despite similar performance to typically developing individuals.
“In terms of simple visual processing like motion coherence, Robertson and colleagues found reduced activation in two areas of the dorsal visual stream, primary visual cortex as well as the middle temporal area, in individuals with ASD despite similar performance to individuals with TD (Robertson et al., 2014)”
From Behavioral, Perceptual, and Neural Alterations in Sensory and Multisensory Function in Autism Spectrum Disorder (2015) · cites this paper as Robertson et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Robertson, C. E., Thomas, C., Kravitz, D. J., Wallace, G. L., Baron-Cohen, S., Martin, A., & Baker, C. I.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Venue
- Brain
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-07-23
- Volume
- 137
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2588-2599
- ISSN
- 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2156
- PMC
- PMC4132651
- OpenAlex
- W2155485320
- Cited by
- 122
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 6.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Brain (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (1-ZIA-MH002920-04, 1-ZIA-MH002893-07, ZIAMH002893, ZIAMH002920)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, global motion perception, coherent motion perception, primary visual cortex, middle temporal area, intraparietal sulcus, perceptual decision making, viewing time, global-local processing
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Autistic Disorder, Humans, Male, Motion Perception, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Visual Cortex
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