The present study aimed to examine the effects of a novel avatar interviewing aid during memory interviews with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirty children were recruited for our study (Age: M = 7.60, SD = 0.68), half with ASD (13 boys; 2 girls) and the other half being neurotypical (13 boys; 2 girls). Children participated in a…

Driving is a complex task that relies on manual, cognitive, visual and social skill. The social demands of driving may be challenging for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) due to known social impairments. This study investigated how drivers with ASD respond to social (e.g., pedestrians) and non-social (e.g., vehicles) hazards in a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of using a driving simulator to address the motor aspects of pre-driving skills with young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A group of neurotypical control participants and ten participants with ASD completed 18 interactive steering and pedal exercises with the goal to achieve…

Developmental data suggested that mental simulation skills become progressively dissociated from overt motor activity across development. Thus, efficient simulation is rather independent from current sensorimotor information. Here, we tested the impact of bodily (sensorimotor) information on simulation skills of adolescents with Autism Spectrum…

People with autism show superior performance to controls on the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). However, studies examining the relationship between autistic-like traits and EFT performance in neurotypical individuals have yielded inconsistent findings. To examine the inconsistency, a meta-analysis was conducted of studies that (a) compared high and…

The magnitude of symptom inter-correlations in diagnosed individuals has contributed to the evidence that autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a fractionable disorder. Such correlations may substantially under-estimate the population correlations among symptoms due to simultaneous selection on the areas of deficit required for diagnosis. Using…

The feasibility and efficacy of virtual reality job interview training (VR-JIT) was assessed in a single-blinded randomized controlled trial. Adults with autism spectrum disorder were randomized to VR-JIT (n = 16) or treatment-as-usual (TAU) (n = 10) groups. VR-JIT consisted of simulated job interviews with a virtual character and didactic…

Although it is speculated that impairments associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will adversely affect driving performance, little is known about the actual extent and nature of the presumed deficits. Ten males (18-24 years of age) with a diagnosis of high functioning autism and 10 age matched community controls were recruited for a…

Although atypical motor behaviors have been associated with autism, investigations regarding their possible origins are scarce. This study assessed the visual and vestibular components involved in atypical postural reactivity in autism. Postural reactivity and stability were measured for younger (12-15 years) and older (16-33 years) autistic…

Atypical visual behaviour has been recently proposed to account for much of social misunderstanding in autism. Using an eye-tracking system and a gaze-contingent lens display, the present study explores self-monitoring of eye motion in two conditions: free visual exploration and guided exploration via blurring the visual field except for the focal…