Associations between Autistic-like Traits and Imagery Ability

“Investigating the relationship between the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) [8] and the AASP, Mayer [9] discovered that higher levels of autistic traits are associated with higher levels of sensory function atypicality in both neurotypical and ASD adults.”

“A representative measure is Tellegen and Atkinson’s Absorption Scale (AS) [27].”

“Large individual differences were revealed long ago by Galton in his study on vividness using the Breakfast Table Questionnaire [19].”

“With respect to the former, we employed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ, Marks [22], translated into Japanese by the author), which has four scenes (relative or friend, rising sun, familiar shop, and country scene), and the Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery (QMI, Richardson [28]…”

“The percentage of the cut-off point, 26+ [30,31], was 19.6%, higher than both groups in Baron-Cohen et al. [8] and higher than the general control group and lower than the student group in Wakabayashi et al. [17].”

“…[48]; difficulties in switching attention [48]; increased attention to local details, e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g., [53]; rerunning images on a visuospatial scratch-pad [54]; the increased use of visuospatial…”

“However, as Preacher et al. [32] point out, there are costs associated with the EGA.”

“Baron-Cohen [56], in his systemizing theory of ASD, argued that sensory hypersensitivity is a basis of excellent attention to detail, which is in the service of strong systemizing.”

“For example, Crane et al. [6] investigated the Adult/Adolescent Sensory Profile (AASP [7]) and found that sensory abnormalities are prevalent in ASD and that there is considerable within-group variability.”

“…e.g., [47]; attention focused on non-social aspects [48]; difficulties in switching attention [48]; increased attention to local details, e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g., [53]; rerunning images on a visuospatial scratch-pad…”

“Robertson and Simmons [10] developed the Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ) to examine sensory problems and observed positive associations between the GSQ and the AQ, including its subscales.”

“Later, Betts developed the Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery (QMI), a 150-item seven-sensory-modality imagery vividness test [20] which Sheehan then shortened to 35 items, 5 for each modality [21].”

“…has four scenes (relative or friend, rising sun, familiar shop, and country scene), and the Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery (QMI, Richardson [28] and Sheehan [21], translated from [28] into Japanese by Onizawa and Takiura), which includes seven modalities (visual, auditory, cutaneous,…”

“These all lead to the views that consider sensory features to be cores of ASD, as seen before [3–6, 9– 12 , 14, According to Harari [58], the Cognitive Revolution occurred between 70,000 and 30,000 years ago, and Homo sapiens evolved imagination; that is, the cognitive capacity to believe in…”

“Autistic-like traits were measured using the Japanese version [17] of the AQ [8], which comprises five subscales: social skill, attention switching, attention to detail, communication, and imagination.”

“The percentage of the cut-off point, 26+ [30,31], was 19.6%, higher than both groups in Baron-Cohen et al. [8] and higher than the general control group and lower than the student group in Wakabayashi et al. [17].”

“Other tests of imagery ability include Gordon’s Test of Visual Imagery Controllability (TVIC) [24].”

“…study, we notice that perceptual bases were referred to in many aspects and correlates of imagination, including reality-based creativity, e.g., [47]; attention focused on non-social aspects [48]; difficulties in switching attention [48]; increased attention to local details, e.g., [49–51];…”

“…e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g., [53]; rerunning images on a visuospatial scratch-pad [54]; the increased use of visuospatial processing strategies, e.g., [55]; and increased sensitivities and intense and accurate sensation [3].”

“Tavassoli and Miller et al. [3] investigated the relationship between ASD and the Sensory Over-Responsiveness (SensOR) subscale of the Sensory Processing Scale [13].”

“…of imagination, including reality-based creativity, e.g., [47]; attention focused on non-social aspects [48]; difficulties in switching attention [48]; increased attention to local details, e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g.,…”

“…[48]; increased attention to local details, e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g., [53]; rerunning images on a visuospatial scratch-pad [54]; the increased use of visuospatial processing strategies, e.g., [55]; and increased…”

“The communication subscale predicted several perceptual issues, including superior EFT performance [39] and reliance on high-spatial-frequency features [33], suggesting a local processing bias and a narrow temporal window [34].”

“For example, Scott and Baron-Cohen [2] asked children with autism to draw pictures of a real thing (e.g., a house, man, or spider) and something that does not exist (e.g., a house, man, or two-headed monster).”

“Investigating the relationship between the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) [8] and the AASP, Mayer [9] discovered that higher levels of autistic traits are associated with higher levels of sensory function atypicality in both neurotypical and ASD adults.”

“…e.g., [47]; attention focused on non-social aspects [48]; difficulties in switching attention [48]; increased attention to local details, e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g., [53]; rerunning images on a visuospatial scratch-pad…”

“Next, it examined the imagination subscale of the AQ and observed that nine of the ten items on this subscale provide a clear measure of brain default mode functions and involve aspects of social imagination [46] (p.190).”

“…of varied subscales, a tendency typified by a detail-focused processing bias [33], including a narrow temporal window [34], an advantage in processing detail [39], a tendency to focus more on details [35], a local processing bias [33,34,39,40], and reduced utilization of the dorsal stream [41,45].”

“Takayama et al. [11] and Sapey-Triomphe et al. [12] reported similar results.”

“…of varied subscales, a tendency typified by a detail-focused processing bias [33], including a narrow temporal window [34], an advantage in processing detail [39], a tendency to focus more on details [35], a local processing bias [33,34,39,40], and reduced utilization of the dorsal stream [41,45].”

“Takayama et al. [11] and Sapey-Triomphe et al. [12] reported similar results.”

“…e.g., [49–51]; increased focus on predictable patterns [52]; thinking in photorealistic pictures, e.g., [53]; rerunning images on a visuospatial scratch-pad [54]; the increased use of visuospatial processing strategies, e.g., [55]; and increased sensitivities and intense and accurate sensation [3].”

“The communication subscale predicted several perceptual issues, including superior EFT performance [39] and reliance on high-spatial-frequency features [33], suggesting a local processing bias and a narrow temporal window [34].”

“Moreover, the communication subscale of the Autism Diagnostic Interview—Revised (ADI-R [43,44]) showed a negative correlation with an N200 amplitude in coherent motion processing, indicating dorsal stream deficiency [45].”

“Examples include reliance on high-spatial frequency features, that is, detail-focused processing bias (i.e., having an eye for detail) [33]; deficiency in multisensory integration due to a narrow temporal window [34]; and a diminished gaze-orienting effect for happy faces which is attributed to a…”

“Marks [36], in his review of historical datasets, showed that detail is one of the key components of visual imagery vividness.”

“It also predicts impairment in abrupt object discrimination, which is attributed to reduced utilization of the dorsal stream to rapidly activate attention prior to ventral stream processing [41].”

“Instead, we adopted Hatakeyama’s [29] scoring approach, which treats verbalization and visualization scores separately (VVQ-Verbal and VVQ-Visual, respectively).”

“It predicts longer evaluation times for unexpected words, which suggests a decreased availability of contextual information [42].”

“These findings are similar to Hatakeyama (2024) who demonstrated a link between the AQ imagination subscale and mental imagery vividness, with the high scoring unimaginative group demonstrating lower imagery vividness in a sample of 250 college students.”

“Until now, studies that have examined the inter-relationship of the expression of autistic traits and imagery have exclusively used the AQ as a measure of the expression of autistic traits (e.g., Dance et al., 2021; Hatakeyama, 2024; King et al., 2024).”

“In contrast to these findings, a study assessing mental imagery and autistic traits in a student population found no association between vividness of mental imagery and autistic traits 21 .”

“These studies challenge existing notions that autistic people have reduced “imagination” (Hatakeyama, 2024; King et al., 2024), but the role of MI in anxiety in autistic adults is yet to be fully explored.”