Faces do not capture special attention in children with autism spectrum disorder: a change blindness study
Open accessAbstract
Two experiments investigated attention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to faces and objects. In both experiments, children (7- to 15-year-olds) detected the difference between 2 visual scenes. Results in Experiment 1 revealed that typically developing children (n = 16) detected the change in faces faster than in objects, whereas children with ASD (n = 16) were equally fast in detecting changes in faces and objects. These results were replicated in Experiment 2 (n = 16 in children with ASD and 22 in typically developing children), which does not require face recognition skill. Results suggest that children with ASD lack an attentional bias toward others’ faces, which could contribute to their atypical social orienting.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
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?
Changes in faces are detected better than changes in other objects.
“changes in faces are detected better than in other objects [2,3]”
From The social motivation theory of autism (2012) · cites this paper as [2]
Difficulties with orienting towards and engaging with people and their faces and voices have been frequently described in older children with autism.
“Difficulties with orienting towards and engaging with people and their faces and voices have been frequently described in older children with autism (Chawarska, Macari, & Shic, 2012; Kikuchi, Senju, Tojo, & Osanai, 2009).”
From From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism (2014) · cites this paper as Kikuchi, Senju, Tojo, & Osanai, 2009
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Williams, J. B. W., & First, M. B. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.104 · Cited by 109,841 · see citing works
The distributed human neural system for face perception
Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., & Gobbini, M. I. (2000) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(00)01482-0 · Cited by 4,891 · see citing works
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Miles-Mason, E. (2018) · Sage eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781483392271.n537 · Cited by 4,133 · see citing works
To See or not to See: The Need for Attention to Perceive Changes in Scenes
Rensink, R. A., O'Regan, J. K., & Clark, J. J. (1997) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00427.x · Cited by 2,372 · see citing works
Klin, A., Jones, W., Schultz, R., Volkmar, F., & Cohen, D. (2002) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.59.9.809 · Cited by 2,120 · see citing works
Effects of Attention and Emotion on Face Processing in the Human Brain
Vuilleumier, P., Armony, J. L., Driver, J., & Dolan, R. J. (2001) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00328-2 · Cited by 1,664 · see citing works
Gaze fixation and the neural circuitry of face processing in autism
Dalton, K. M., Nacewicz, B. M., Johnstone, T., Schaefer, H. S., Gernsbacher, M. A., Goldsmith, H. H., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2005) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1421 · Cited by 1,543 · see citing works
A mechanism for impaired fear recognition after amygdala damage
Adolphs, R., Gosselin, F., Buchanan, T. W., Tranel, D., Schyns, P., & Damasio, A. R. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03086 · Cited by 1,331 · see citing works
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Park, S. E., & Demakis, G. J. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1035-1 · Cited by 1,328 · see citing works
Social intelligence in the normal and autistic brain: An fMRI study
Baron‐Cohen, S., Ring, H. A., Wheelwright, S., Bullmore, E. T., Brammer, M. J., Simmons, A., & Williams, S. C. R. (1999) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1046/j.1460-9568.1999.00621.x · Cited by 1,320 · see citing works
Early recognition of children with autism: a study of first birthday home videotapes
Osterling, J., & Dawson, G. (1994) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02172225 · Cited by 1,290 · see citing works
Change blindness: Past, present, and future
Simons, D. J., & Rensink, R. A. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.11.006 · Cited by 1,153 · see citing works
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Preedy, V., & Watson, R. (2010) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-0-387-78665-0_5485 · Cited by 1,146 · see citing works
CONSPEC and CONLERN: A two-process theory of infant face recognition.
Morton, J., & Johnson, M. H. (1991) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.98.2.164 · Cited by 1,115 · see citing works
Schultz, R. T. (2005) · International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2004.12.012 · Cited by 1,071 · see citing works
Social Intelligence in the Normal and Autistic Brain: An fMRI Study
Baron‐Cohen, S., RING, H. A., Wheelwright, S. J., Bullmore, E. T., Brammer, M. J., Simmons, A., & Williams, S. (2002) · The MIT Press eBooks · doi:10.7551/mitpress/3077.003.0028 · Cited by 1,044 · see citing works
Simons, D. J., & Levin, D. T. (1997) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(97)01080-2 · Cited by 1,039 · see citing works
Schultz, R. T., Gauthier, I., Klin, A., Fulbright, R. K., Anderson, A. W., Volkmar, F., Skudlarski, P., Lacadie, C., Cohen, D. J., & Gore, J. C. (2000) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.57.4.331 · Cited by 1,000 · see citing works
Dawson, G., Webb, S. J., & McPartland, J. (2005) · Developmental Neuropsychology · doi:10.1207/s15326942dn2703_6 · Cited by 989 · see citing works
Johnson, M. H. (2005) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1766 · Cited by 969 · see citing works
Brain structural abnormalities in young children with autism spectrum disorder
Sparks, B. F., Friedman, S. D., Shaw, D. W., Aylward, E. H., Echelard, D., Artru, A. A., Maravilla, K. R., Giedd, J. N., Munson, J., Dawson, G., et al. (2002) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.59.2.184 · Cited by 961 · see citing works
Autism: cognitive deficit or cognitive style?
Happé, F. (1999) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(99)01318-2 · Cited by 957 · see citing works
Face processing occurs outside the fusiform ‘face area’ in autism: evidence from functional MRI
Pierce, K. (2001) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/124.10.2059 · Cited by 898 · 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
Rensink, R. A. (2002) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135125 · Cited by 850 · see citing works
Schumann, C. M., Hamstra, J., Goodlin-Jones, B. L., Lotspeich, L. J., Kwon, H., Buonocore, M. H., Lammers, C. R., Reiss, A. L., & Amaral, D. G. (2004) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1297-04.2004 · Cited by 840 · 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
Early recognition of 1-year-old infants with autism spectrum disorder versus mental retardation
OSTERLING, J. A., DAWSON, G., & MUNSON, J. A. (2002) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579402002031 · Cited by 738 · see citing works
Change-blindness as a result of ‘mudsplashes’
O'Regan, J. K., Rensink, R. A., & Clark, J. J. (1999) · Nature · doi:10.1038/17953 · Cited by 679 · see citing works
Neuropathology of Infantile Autism
Kemper, T. L., & Bauman, M. (1998) · Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology · doi:10.1097/00005072-199807000-00001 · Cited by 585 · see citing works
Failure to detect changes to attended objects in motion pictures
Levin, D. T., & Simons, D. J. (1997) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/bf03214339 · Cited by 523 · see citing works
SOCIAL INTERACTIONS OF AUTISTIC, MENTALLY RETARDED AND NORMAL CHILDREN AND THEIR CAREGIVERS
Sigman, M., Mundy, P. C., Sherman, T., & Ungerer, J. A. (1986) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1986.tb00189.x · Cited by 514 · see citing works
MRI volumes of amygdala and hippocampus in non–mentally retarded autistic adolescents and adults
Aylward, E., Minshew, N. J., Goldstein, G., Honeycutt, N. A., Augustine, A. M., Yates, K. O., Barta, P. E., & Pearlson, G. D. (1999) · Neurology · doi:10.1212/wnl.53.9.2145 · Cited by 513 · see citing works
Current Approaches to Change Blindness
Simons, D. J. (2000) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/135062800394658 · Cited by 509 · see citing works
Werner, E., Dawson, G., Osterling, J., & Dinno, N. D. (2000) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1005463707029 · Cited by 485 · see citing works
Convergent neuroanatomical and behavioural evidence of an amygdala hypothesis of autism
Howard, M. A., Cowell, P. E., Boucher, J., Broks, P., Mayes, A. R., Farrant, A., & Roberts, N. P. (2000) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/00001756-200009110-00020 · Cited by 479 · see citing works
“Newborns' Preference for Face-Relevant Stimuli: Effects of Contrast Polarity”
Farroni, T., Johnson, M. H., Menon, E., Zulian, L., Faraguna, D., & Csibra, G. (2005) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0502205102 · Cited by 467 · see citing works
Covert Visual Attention Modulates Face-Specific Activity in the Human Fusiform Gyrus: fMRI Study
Wojciulik, E., Kanwisher, N., & Driver, J. (1998) · Journal of Neurophysiology · doi:10.1152/jn.1998.79.3.1574 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
A Normed Study of Face Recognition in Autism and Related Disorders
Klin, A., Sparrow, S. S., de Bildt, A. A., Cicchetti, D. V., Cohen, D. J., & Volkmar, F. R. (1999) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1022299920240 · Cited by 408 · see citing works
Grelotti, D. J., Gauthier, L., & Schultz, R. T. (2002) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.10028 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Swettenham, J., Baron‐Cohen, S., Charman, T., Cox, A., Baird, G., Drew, A., Rees, L., & Wheelwright, S. (1998) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/1469-7610.00373 · Cited by 370 · see citing works
The emergence of the social brain network: evidence from typical and atypical development
JOHNSON, M. H., GRIFFIN, R., CSIBRA, G., HALIT, H., FARRONI, T., DE HAAN, M., TUCKER, L. A., BARON–COHEN, S., & RICHARDS, J. (2005) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579405050297 · Cited by 369 · see citing works
Wang, A. T., Dapretto, M., Hariri, A. R., Sigman, M., & Bookheimer, S. Y. (2004) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-200404000-00015 · Cited by 361 · see citing works
Affective exchanges between young autistic children and their mothers
Dawson, G., Hill, D., Spencer, A., Galpert, L., & Watson, L. R. (1990) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/bf00916569 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
Langton, S., Law, A. S., Burton, A. M., & Schweinberger, S. R. (2007) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.07.012 · Cited by 349 · see citing works
Changing faces: a detection advantage in the flicker paradigm
Ro, T., Russell, C., & Lavie, N. (2001) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00317 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
Activation of the fusiform gyrus when individuals with autism spectrum disorder view faces
Hadjikhani, N. K., Joseph, R. M., Snyder, J., Chabris, C. F., Clark, J., Steele, S. D., McGrath, L. M., Vangel, M. G., Aharon, I., Feczko, E., et al. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.03.025 · Cited by 346 · see citing works
Face processing in children with autism: Effects of stimulus contents and type
Speer, L. L., Cook, A. E., McMahon, W. M., & Clark, E. (2007) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361307076925 · Cited by 342 · see citing works
Abnormal activation of the social brain during face perception in autism
Hadjikhani, N. K., Joseph, R. M., Snyder, J., & Tager-Flusberg, H. B. (2006) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20283 · Cited by 300 · 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
Amygdala damage impairs eye contact during conversations with real people
Spezio, M. L., Huang, P.-Y. S., Castelli, F., & Adolphs, R. (2007) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3789-06.2007 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Are Infants with Autism Socially Engaged? A Study of Recent Retrospective Parental Reports
Wimpory, D. C., Hobson, R. P., Williams, J. M. G., & Nash, S. (2000) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1005683209438 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Piggot, J., Kwon, H., Mobbs, D., Blasey, C., Lotspeich, L., Menon, V., Bookheimer, S., & Reiss, A. L. (2004) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/00004583-200404000-00014 · Cited by 201 · 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
Hello and goodbye: a study of social engagement in autism
Hobson, R. P., & Lee, A. (1998) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1026088531558 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Mars, A. E., Mauk, J. E., & Dowrick, P. W. (1998) · The Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/s0022-3476(98)70027-7 · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Attenuated Change Blindness for Exogenously Attended Items in a Flicker Paradigm
Scholl, B. J. (2000) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/135062800394856 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Looking at Images with Human Figures: Comparison Between Autistic and Normal Children
van der Geest, J. N., Kemner, C., Camfferman, G., Verbaten, M. N., & van Engeland, H. (2002) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1014832420206 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Attentional biases for faces and body parts
Ro, T., Friggel, A., & Nilli Lavie, C. (2006) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506280600590434 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
An Investigation of Attention and Affect in Children with Autism and Down Syndrome
Joseph, R. M., & Tager-Flusberg, H. B. (1997) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/a:1025853321118 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
How Young Children Treat Objects and People: An Empirical Study of the First Year of Life in Autism
Maestro, S., Muratori, F., Cavallaro, M. C., Pecini, C., Cesari, A., Paziente, A., Stern, D. N., Golse, B., & Palacio-Espasa, F. (2005) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-005-2695-x · Cited by 125 · see citing works
Humphreys, G., Hodsoll, J. P., & Campbell, C. (2005) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506280444000148 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Fletcher‐Watson, S., Leekam, S. R., Turner, M. A., & Moxon, L. (2006) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1348/000712606x114057 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
The development of change detection
Shore, D. I., Burack, J. A., Miller, D. L., et al. (2006) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2006.00516.x · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Change detection in the flicker paradigm: Do faces have an advantage?
Palermo, R., & Rhodes, G. (2003) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506280344000059 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Brain choline acetyltransferase reduction in SIV infection. An index of early dementia?
Koutsilieri, E., Czub, S., Scheller, C., et al. (2000) · Neuroreport · doi:10.1097/00001756-200008030-00011 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Yokosawa, K. & Ohtani, T. (2003). Representation and attention in blindness phenomena: Current approaches to inattentional blindness and change blindness. Japanese Psychological Review, 46, 482-500.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The social motivation theory of autism
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.02.007 · Cited by 2,072 · see citing works
From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism
Gliga, T., Jones, E. J. H., Bedford, R., Charman, T., & Johnson, M. H. (2014) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2014.05.003 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kikuchi, Y., Senju, A., Tojo, Y., Osanai, H., & Hasegawa, T.
- Affiliations
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
- Ibaraki University (JP)
- Musashino Higashi Gakuen , Tokyo
- Corresponding author
- Senju, Atsushi
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2009-09-01
- Volume
- 80
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1421-1433
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W2144700282
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 3.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Tokyo
- Economic and Social Research Council (RES-063-27-0207, ES/G007322/1)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (16330192, RES-063-27-0207)
- Birkbeck, University of London
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, change blindness, face attention, attentional bias, social orienting, face recognition (cognition), object attention, children
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Attention, Blindness, Child, Developmental Disabilities, Child Development Disorders, Pervasive, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Reaction Time, Case-Control Studies, Prosopagnosia, Recognition, Psychology
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
