ERIC Number: EJ1327289
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Feb
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0162-3257
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Available Date: N/A
What Is the Effect of Stimulus Complexity on Attention to Repeating and Changing Information in Autism?
Arora, Iti; Bellato, Alessio; Gliga, Teodora; Ropar, Danielle; Kochhar, Puja; Hollis, Chris; Groom, Madeleine
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, v52 n2 p600-616 Feb 2022
Slower habituation to repeating stimuli characterises Autism, but it is not known whether this is driven by difficulties with information processing or an attentional bias towards sameness. We conducted eye-tracking and presented looming geometrical shapes, clocks with moving arms and smiling faces, as two separate streams of stimuli (one repeating and one changing), to 7-15 years old children and adolescents (n = 103) with Autism, ADHD or co-occurring Autism+ADHD, and neurotypical children (Study-1); and to neurotypical children (n = 64) with varying levels of autistic traits (Study-2). Across both studies, autistic features were associated with longer looks to the repeating stimulus, and shorter looks to the changing stimulus, but only for more complex stimuli, indicating greater difficulty in processing complex or unpredictable information.
Descriptors: Stimuli, Difficulty Level, Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Habituation, Children, Adolescents, Change
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Data File: URL: https://osf.io/v9fex/
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