Individual Differences in (Non-Visual) Processing Style Predict the Face Inversion Effect

Recent research suggests that individuals with relatively weak global precedence (i.e., a smaller propensity to view visual stimuli in a configural manner) show a reduced face inversion effect (FIE). Coupled with such findings, a number of recent studies have demonstrated links between an advantage for feature-based processing and the presentation of traits associated with autism among the general population. The present study sought to bridge these findings by investigating whether a relationship exists between the possession of autism-associated traits (i.e., as indicated by individuals'"autism quotient" [(AQ) and the size of the FIE. Participants completed an on-line study in which the AQ was measured prior to a standard face recognition task where half of the faces were inverted at test. The results confirmed that higher AQ levels were predictive of smaller FIEs. Implications for a common underlying factor relating to processing orientation are discussed.

[1]  U. Frith,et al.  The Weak Coherence Account: Detail-focused Cognitive Style in Autism Spectrum Disorders , 2006, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[2]  Inner and outer face perception in children with autism. , 2003, Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence.

[3]  C Neil Macrae,et al.  Do I Know You? Processing Orientation and Face Recognition , 2002, Psychological science.

[4]  U. Frith,et al.  Exploring the cognitive phenotype of autism: weak "central coherence" in parents and siblings of children with autism: I. Experimental tests. , 2001, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[5]  U. Frith,et al.  Exploring the cognitive phenotype of autism: weak "central coherence" in parents and siblings of children with autism: II. Real-life skills and preferences. , 2001, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[6]  Yaacov Trope,et al.  You focus on the forest when you're in charge of the trees: power priming and abstract information processing. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[7]  Tiffany M Field,et al.  Mother-stranger face discrimination by the newborn , 1984 .

[8]  S. Baron-Cohen,et al.  The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High-Functioning Autism, Malesand Females, Scientists and Mathematicians , 2001, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[9]  D. Navon.  Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception , 1977, Cognitive Psychology.

[10]  J. Boucher,et al.  Unfamiliar face recognition in relatively able autistic children. , 1992, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[11]  D. Badcock,et al.  Global Visual Processing and Self-Rated Autistic-like Traits , 2009, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[12]  M. Behrmann,et al.  Seeing it differently: visual processing in autism , 2006, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[13]  Laurent Mottron,et al.  Impaired Face Processing in Autism: Fact or Artifact? , 2006, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[14]  M. Arguin,et al.  Face perception in high-functioning autistic adults: evidence for superior processing of face parts, not for a configural face-processing deficit. , 2006, Neuropsychology.

[15]  F. Happé,et al.  The Power of the Positive: Revisiting Weak Coherence in Autism Spectrum Disorders , 2008, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[16]  A. Young,et al.  Configurational Information in Face Perception , 1987, Perception.

[17]  F. Happé,et al.  Time to give up on a single explanation for autism , 2006, Nature Neuroscience.

[18]  J. Bartlett,et al.  Inversion and processing of component and spatial-relational information in faces. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[19]  Local Processing BIAS Impairs Lineup Performance , 2003, Psychological reports.

[20]  L Cipolotti,et al.  Fractionation of visual memory: agency detection and its impairment in autism , 2002, Neuropsychologia.

[21]  F. Happé.  Autism: cognitive deficit or cognitive style? , 1999, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[22]  Olivier Pascalis,et al.  Mother's face recognition by neonates: A replication and an extension , 1995 .

[23]  D. Bishop,et al.  Face perception in children with autism and Asperger's syndrome. , 1994, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[24]  G. Yovel,et al.  Why does picture-plane inversion sometimes dissociate perception of features and spacing in faces, and sometimes not? Toward a new theory of holistic processing , 2009, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[25]  S. Baron-Cohen.  The extreme male brain theory of autism , 2002, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[26]  N. Goldenfeld,et al.  Predicting Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) from the Systemizing Quotient-Revised (SQ-R) and Empathy Quotient (EQ) , 2006, Brain Research.

[27]  Jonathan W. Schooler,et al.  Verbalization produces a transfer inappropriate processing shift. , 2002 .

[28]  Geoffrey Bird,et al.  Attention does not modulate neural responses to social stimuli in autism spectrum disorders , 2006, NeuroImage.

[29]  U. Frith,et al.  An islet of ability in autistic children: a research note. , 1983, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[30]  I. W. R. Bushneil,et al.  Neonatal recognition of the mother's face , 1989 .

[31]  Y. Trope,et al.  Construal-level theory of psychological distance. , 2010, Psychological review.

[32]  M. Farah,et al.  What causes the face inversion effect? , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[33]  B. Hubert,et al.  Enhanced Perceptual Functioning in Autism: An Update, and Eight Principles of Autistic Perception , 2006, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[34]  D. Badcock,et al.  Brief Report: Visuospatial Analysis and Self-Rated Autistic-Like Traits , 2009, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[35]  J. Piven,et al.  Psychiatric disorder and the broad autism phenotype: evidence from a family study of multiple-incidence autism families. , 1999, The American journal of psychiatry.

[36]  Y. Trope,et al.  The effect of temporal distance on level of mental construal. , 2002 .

[37]  R. Yin.  Looking at Upside-down Faces , 1969 .

[38]  D. Maurer,et al.  The many faces of configural processing , 2002, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[39]  Simon Baron-Cohen,et al.  Empathising and Systemising in Adults with and without Asperger Syndrome , 2004, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[40]  M. Farah,et al.  Parts and Wholes in Face Recognition , 1993, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[41]  S. Leekam,et al.  Face processing in high‐functioning adolescents with autism: Evidence for weak central coherence , 2004 .

[42]  Nira Liberman,et al.  The Effect of Psychological Distance on Perceptual Level of Construal , 2009, Cogn. Sci..

[43]  Dennis C. Hay,et al.  Configural information in face recognition , 1987 .

[44]  G. Miller,et al.  Cognitive science. , 1981, Science.

[45]  Sabine Pahl,et al.  Temporal Distance and Person Memory: Thinking About the Future Changes Memory for the Past , 2010, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[46]  Renita A. Almeida,et al.  A new step towards understanding Embedded Figures Test performance in the autism spectrum: The radial frequency search task , 2010, Neuropsychologia.

[47]  Effects of processing bias on the recognition of composite face halves , 2005, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[48]  U. Frith,et al.  Autism: beyond “theory of mind” , 1994, Cognition.

[49]  C. Macrae,et al.  Processing style and person recognition: Exploring the face inversion effect , 2010 .

[50]  Y. Trope,et al.  The role of feasibility and desirability considerations in near and distant future decisions: A test of temporal construal theory. , 1998 .

[51]  J. Bartlett,et al.  Inversion and processing of component and spatial–relational information in faces. , 1996 .