Visual-spatial orienting in autism

Visual-spatial orienting in high-functioning adults with autism and both chronological- and mental-age normal controls was examined. Three experiments were conducted in which stimuli were presented centrally and/or laterally (left or right of central fixation), and either detection or identification was required. The group with autism differed from normal controls by responding faster to central than to lateral stimuli, and by showing a left visual field advantage for stimulus detection only in the simplest condition (lateral presentations alone). Discussion focuses on the apparent abnormalities in disengaging/shifting attention, and on the coordination of attentional and motor systems in autism.

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