Do high functioning persons with autism present superior spatial abilities?

This series of experiments was aimed at assessing spatial abilities in high functioning individuals with autism (HFA), using a human-size labyrinth. In the context of recent findings that the performance of individuals with HFA was superior to typically developing individuals in several non-social cognitive operations, it was expected that the HFA group would outperform a typically developing comparison group matched on full-scale IQ. Results showed that individuals with autism performed all spatial tasks at a level at least equivalent to the typically developing comparison group. No differences between groups were found in route and survey tasks. Superior performance for individuals with HFA was found in tasks involving maps, in the form of superior accuracy in graphic cued recall of a path, and shorter learning times in a map learning task. We propose that a superior ability to detect [Human Perception and Performance 27 (3) (2001) 719], match [Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 34 (1993) 1351] and reproduce [Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 40 (5) (1999) 743] simple visual elements yields superior performance in tasks relying on the detection and graphic reproduction of the visual elements composing a map. Enhanced discrimination, detection, and memory for visually simple patterns in autism may account for the superior performance of persons with autism on visuo-spatial tasks that heavily involve pattern recognition, either in the form of recognizing and memorizing landmarks or in detecting the similarity between map and landscape features. At a neuro-anatomical level, these findings suggest an intact dorso-lateral pathway, and enhanced performance in non social tasks relying on the infero-temporal pathway.

[1]  Dan Gusfield,et al.  Algorithms on Strings, Trees, and Sequences - Computer Science and Computational Biology , 1997 .

[2]  L. Mottron,et al.  Local bias in autistic subjects as evidenced by graphic tasks: perceptual hierarchization or working memory deficit? , 1999, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[3]  R. C. Oldfield The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

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

[5]  G W Evans,et al.  Cognitive mapping: knowledge of real-world distance and location information. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[6]  Barbara Hayes-Roth,et al.  Differences in spatial knowledge acquired from maps and navigation , 1982, Cognitive Psychology.

[7]  A S Etienne,et al.  Path integration in mammals and its interaction with visual landmarks. , 1996, The Journal of experimental biology.

[8]  L. Mottron,et al.  A study of memory functioning in individuals with autism. , 2001, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[9]  T. Charman,et al.  The Development of Autism : Perspectives From Theory and Research , 2001 .

[10]  I. Whishaw,et al.  Rats with Fimbria–Fornix Lesions Are Impaired in Path Integration: A Role for the Hippocampus in “Sense of Direction” , 1998, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[11]  Linda Pring,et al.  Autism and pitch processing: A precursor for savant musical ability. , 1998 .

[12]  J. Peponis,et al.  Finding the Building in Wayfinding , 1990 .

[13]  U. Frith,et al.  Why do autistic individuals show superior performance on the block design task? , 1993, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[14]  H. Spiers,et al.  Path integration following temporal lobectomy in humans , 2001, Neuropsychologia.

[15]  M. Moscovitch,et al.  Distinct neural correlates of visual long-term memory for spatial location and object identity: a positron emission tomography study in humans. , 1995, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[16]  H. Pick,et al.  Spatial orientation : theory, research, and application , 1984 .

[17]  J. Burack,et al.  Enhanced perceptual functioning in the development of autism. , 2001 .

[18]  A. Benton,et al.  Three-dimensional constructional praxis. A clinical test. , 1962, Archives of neurology.

[19]  B. Pennington,et al.  Intact and impaired memory functions in autism. , 1996, Child development.

[20]  N. Minshew,et al.  Neuropsychologic functioning in autism: Profile of a complex information processing disorder , 1997, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.

[21]  Keiji Tanaka,et al.  Coding visual images of objects in the inferotemporal cortex of the macaque monkey. , 1991, Journal of neurophysiology.

[22]  R. Lehman,et al.  Constructional Apraxia and the Minor Hemisphere , 1967 .

[23]  Michael O'Neill,et al.  Effects of Signage and Floor Plan Configuration on Wayfinding Accuracy , 1991 .

[24]  E. Maguire,et al.  Neurodevelopmental Aspects of Spatial Navigation: A Virtual Reality fMRI Study , 2002, NeuroImage.

[25]  Jerry Weisman,et al.  Evaluating Architectural Legibility , 1981 .

[26]  J. Faubert,et al.  Motion Perception in Autism: A Complex Issue , 2003, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[27]  T. Kimura,et al.  Mental navigation in humans is processed in the anterior bank of the parieto-occipital sulcus , 2002, Neuroscience Letters.

[28]  Intellectual characteristics of adolescent childhood psychotics with high verbal ability. , 2008, Journal of mental deficiency research.

[29]  Dc Washington Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed. , 1994 .

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

[31]  I. Peretz,et al.  Enhanced Pitch Sensitivity in Individuals with Autism: A Signal Detection Analysis , 2003, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[32]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Functional Anatomy of High-Resolution Visual Mental Imagery , 2000, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[33]  A. Siegel,et al.  The development of spatial representations of large-scale environments. , 1975, Advances in child development and behavior.

[34]  J. Gabrieli,et al.  Neural Correlates of Encoding Space from Route and Survey Perspectives , 2002, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[35]  E. Courchesne,et al.  Face processing occurs outside the fusiform 'face area' in autism: evidence from functional MRI. , 2001, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[36]  Stephen C. Hirtle,et al.  Acquisition of spatial knowledge for routes , 1991 .

[37]  B. Leventhal,et al.  The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Generic: A Standard Measure of Social and Communication Deficits Associated with the Spectrum of Autism , 2000, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[38]  E. Tolman Cognitive maps in rats and men. , 1948, Psychological review.

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

[40]  Éric Fimbel Edit distance and chaitin-kolmogorov difference , 2002 .

[41]  P. Thorndyke,et al.  Spatial learning and reasoning skill , 1981 .

[42]  Daniel R. Montello,et al.  Scale and Multiple Psychologies of Space , 1993, COSIT.

[43]  Romedi Passini,et al.  The Spatio-Cognitive Abilities of the Visually Impaired Population , 1990 .

[44]  S. Baron-Cohen,et al.  Superior visual search in autism. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[45]  Kevin J. Riggs,et al.  Motion processing in autism: evidence for a dorsal stream deficiency , 2000, Neuroreport.

[46]  L. K. Miller,et al.  The savant syndrome: intellectual impairment and exceptional skill. , 1999, Psychological bulletin.

[47]  T. Robbins,et al.  Planning and spatial working memory following frontal lobe lesions in man , 1990, Neuropsychologia.

[48]  James W. Pellegrino,et al.  The acquisition and integration of route knowledge in an unfamiliar neighborhood , 1990 .

[49]  M S Waterman,et al.  Identification of common molecular subsequences. , 1981, Journal of molecular biology.

[50]  V. Braithwaite,et al.  The evolution of sex differences in spatial ability. , 2003, Behavioral neuroscience.

[51]  Bill Hillier,et al.  What do we mean by building function , 1984 .

[52]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Topographical representations of mental images in primary visual cortex , 1995, Nature.

[53]  E. Maguire,et al.  Topographical disorientation following unilateral temporal lobe lesions in humans , 1996, Neuropsychologia.

[54]  Nora S. Newcombe,et al.  Spatial representation and behavior across the life span , 1981 .

[55]  T. Gärling,et al.  Behavior and environment : psychological and geographical approaches , 1993 .

[56]  W E Skaggs,et al.  Deciphering the hippocampal polyglot: the hippocampus as a path integration system. , 1996, The Journal of experimental biology.

[57]  S. Baron-Cohen,et al.  Are people with autism and Asperger syndrome faster than normal on the Embedded Figures Test? , 1997, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[58]  E T Bullmore,et al.  Cerebral correlates of preserved cognitive skills in autism: a functional MRI study of embedded figures task performance. , 1999, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[59]  J R Hodges,et al.  Topographic amnesia: spatial memory disorder, perceptual dysfunction, or category specific semantic memory impairment? , 1996, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[60]  R. Menzel,et al.  Do insects have cognitive maps? , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[61]  M. Mishkin,et al.  Visual recognition impairment following medial thalamic lesions in monkeys , 1983, Neuropsychologia.

[62]  J. Enns,et al.  Locally oriented perception with intact global processing among adolescents with high-functioning autism: evidence from multiple paradigms. , 2003, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[63]  Daniel Mestre,et al.  Rapid visual-motion integration deficit in autism , 2002, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[64]  B. Pennington,et al.  Executive function deficits in high-functioning autistic individuals: relationship to theory of mind. , 1991, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[65]  A. Etienne,et al.  Navigation through vector addition , 1998, Nature.

[66]  H. Forde,et al.  Sense of Direction , 1873, Nature.

[67]  R. Campbell,et al.  High motion coherence thresholds in children with autism. , 2002, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[68]  R. Downs,et al.  Maps in minds : reflections on cognitive mapping , 1978 .

[69]  R. Passini,et al.  Spato-cognitive deficits in right parietal lesion and its impact on wayfinding: A case study , 2000 .

[70]  U. Frith,et al.  Fractionation of visual memory: Evidence from a case with multiple neurodevelopmental impairments , 1999, Neuropsychologia.

[71]  Leslie G. Ungerleider,et al.  Dissociation of object and spatial visual processing pathways in human extrastriate cortex. , 1991, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[72]  R. C. Oldfield THE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS OF HANDEDNESS , 1971 .

[73]  I. Peretz,et al.  Local and global processing of music in high-functioning persons with autism: beyond central coherence? , 2000, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[74]  A. Couteur,et al.  Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders , 1994, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[75]  James W. Pellegrino,et al.  Chapter 3 Psychological Perspectives on Spatial Cognition Thomas , 1993 .

[76]  E. Maguire,et al.  Knowing Where Things Are: Parahippocampal Involvement in Encoding Object Locations in Virtual Large-Scale Space , 1998, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[77]  H. L. Dee Visuoconstructive and visuoperceptive deficit in patients with unilateral cerebral lesions. , 1970, Neuropsychologia.

[78]  S. Baron-Cohen,et al.  Enhanced discrimination of novel, highly similar stimuli by adults with autism during a perceptual learning task. , 1998, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[79]  J. Rumsey,et al.  Neuropsychological findings in high-functioning men with infantile autism, residual state. , 1988, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[80]  E. Renzi,et al.  Constructional Apraxia and Hemispheric Locus of Lesion , 1964 .

[81]  T. Gärling,et al.  Acquisition of locational information about reference points during blindfolded and sighted locomotion: effects of a concurrent task and locomotion paths. , 1981, Scandinavian journal of psychology.