Global and configural visual processing in adults with autism and Asperger syndrome

This study was designed to explore how adults with autism and Asperger syndrome (ASD) would visually process compound figures. They were tested in two tasks, one involving hierarchical global/local stimuli, the other involving face-like or geometrical stimuli where the processing of the inter-elemental spatial relationships was emphasized. Adults with ASD showed, like controls, a preference for the global level of the hierarchical stimuli. With the stimuli involving inter-elemental spatial relationship manipulations, the adults with ASD showed a preference for local elements, whereas controls did not show a preference. This supports earlier findings from children with ASD, suggesting that though individuals with autism may process global aspects of stimuli in priority, they tend to specific aspects in stimuli containing both local and configural elements.