Oblique Orientation Discrimination Thresholds Are Superior in Those with a High Level of Autistic Traits

Abstract Background: Increasing attention has been directed toward understanding the ways in which social environmental factors influence children’s behavior, in physical and mental health domains. Autistic traits are continuously distributed in general population and children with autistic traits have great risk of additional mental diseases. However, no literature has demonstrated the relation between autistic traits and home nurture environment.Methods: Caregivers of 408 kindergarten children (68% male) were recruited to complete a series of survey measures in China. The measures used were the Clancy Autistic Behavior Scale and the Home Nurture Environment Scale. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations.Results: Frequent language/cognition stimulation (aOR 0.520, 95%CI 0.302-0.896), high level of parental warmth (aOR 0.596, 95%CI 0.392-0.905) and high quality of physical living environment (aOR 0.332, 95%CI 0.196-0.561) were the protective factors of autistic traits after controlling the confounding factors. Results were generally not moderated by the child’s gender or birth order.Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of high levels of home nurture environment for autistic traits and indicate that public health programs should focus on guidance of parents for developing more adequate parenting skills and favorable home nurture environment.

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The observant mind: self-awareness of attentional status

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2010.0891 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 277 (1699) ◽

pp. 3421-3426 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Noriko Yamagishi ◽

Stephen J. Anderson ◽

Mitsuo Kawato

Keyword(s):

Threshold Model ◽

Discrimination Performance ◽

Attentional Focus ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Self Awareness ◽

Neural Basis ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Delay Times ◽

Linear Rise ◽

High Level

Visual perception is dependent not only on low-level sensory input but also on high-level cognitive factors such as attention. In this paper, we sought to determine whether attentional processes can be internally monitored for the purpose of enhancing behavioural performance. To do so, we developed a novel paradigm involving an orientation discrimination task in which observers had the freedom to delay target presentation—by any amount required—until they judged their attentional focus to be complete. Our results show that discrimination performance is significantly improved when individuals self-monitor their level of visual attention and respond only when they perceive it to be maximal. Although target delay times varied widely from trial-to-trial (range 860 ms–12.84 s), we show that their distribution is Gaussian when plotted on a reciprocal latency scale. We further show that the neural basis of the delay times for judging attentional status is well explained by a linear rise-to-threshold model. We conclude that attentional mechanisms can be self-monitored for the purpose of enhancing human decision-making processes, and that the neural basis of such processes can be understood in terms of a simple, yet broadly applicable, linear rise-to-threshold model.

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Visual Learning Alters the Spontaneous Activity of the Resting Human Brain: An fNIRS Study

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2014/631425 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Haijing Niu ◽

Hao Li ◽

Li Sun ◽

Yongming Su ◽

Jing Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Perceptual Learning ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Visual Learning ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Right Visual Field ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

High Level

Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) has been widely used to investigate spontaneous brain activity that exhibits correlated fluctuations. RSFC has been found to be changed along the developmental course and after learning. Here, we investigated whether and how visual learning modified the resting oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) functional brain connectivity by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We demonstrate that after five days of training on an orientation discrimination task constrained to the right visual field, resting HbO functional connectivity and directed mutual interaction between high-level visual cortex and frontal/central areas involved in the top-down control were significantly modified. Moreover, these changes, which correlated with the degree of perceptual learning, were not limited to the trained left visual cortex. We conclude that the resting oxygenated hemoglobin functional connectivity could be used as a predictor of visual learning, supporting the involvement of high-level visual cortex and the involvement of frontal/central cortex during visual perceptual learning.

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Individual differences in high-level biological motion tasks correlate with autistic traits

Vision Research ◽

10.1016/j.visres.2016.11.005 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 141 ◽

pp. 136-144 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Jeroen J.A. van Boxtel ◽

Yujia Peng ◽

Junzhu Su ◽

Hongjing Lu

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Biological Motion ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

High Level

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Cognitive Control of Intentions for Voluntary Actions in Individuals With a High Level of Autistic Traits

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders ◽

10.1007/s10803-012-1509-9 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 42 (12) ◽

pp. 2523-2533 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Edita Poljac ◽

Ervin Poljac ◽

Nick Yeung

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

High Level

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Integration of gaze direction and facial expression in individuals with a high level of autistic traits

10.31234/osf.io/p7sdv ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Marotta ◽

Belén Aranda-Martín ◽

Marco De Cono ◽

María Ángeles Ballesteros Duperón ◽

Maria Casagrande ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Gaze Direction ◽

Emotional Expressions ◽

Autism Spectrum Quotient ◽

The Right ◽

High Level ◽

Communicative Signals

We investigated whether individuals with high levels of autistic traits integrate relevant communicative signals, such as facial expression, when decoding eye-gaze direction. Students with high vs. low scores on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) performed a task in which they responded to the eyes’ direction of faces, presented on the left or the right side of the screen, portraying different emotional expressions. In both groups, the identification of gaze direction was faster when the eyes were directed towards the center of the scene. However, only in the low AQ group, this effect was larger for happy faces than for neutral faces or faces showing other emotional expressions. High AQ participants were not affected by emotional expressions. These results suggested that individuals with more autistic traits may do not integrate multiple communicative signals based on their emotional value.

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Perceptual load modulates contour integration in conscious and unconscious states

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.7550 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

pp. e7550 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kaiwen Cheng ◽

Keyu Yang ◽

Long Qin ◽

Yixuan Zhuo ◽

Hongmei Yan

Keyword(s):

Perceptual Load ◽

Contour Integration ◽

Contour Detection ◽

Cognitive Factors ◽

Orientation Discrimination ◽

Conscious Awareness ◽

Sensory Features ◽

High Level ◽

Conscious Attention ◽

Closure Effect

Previous research has documented that contour detection and integration may either be affected by local features such as the distances between elements or by high-level cognitive factors such as attention in our visual system. Less is known about how low and high level factors interact to influence contour integration. In this paper, we investigated how attention modulates contour integration through saliency (different element spacing) and topological propert ies (circle or S-shaped) when the state of conscious awareness is manipulated. A modified inattentional blindness (IB) combined with the Posner cuing paradigm was adopted in our three-phased experiment (unconscious-training-conscious). Attention was manipulated with high or low perceptual load for a foveal go/no-go task. Cuing effects were utilized to assess the covert processing of contours prior to a peripheral orientation discrimination task. We found that (1) salient circles and S-contours induced different cuing effects under low perceptual load but not with high load; (2) no consistent pattern of cuing effects was found for non-salient contours in all the conditions; (3) a positive cuing effect was observed for salient circles either consciously or unconsciously while a negative cuing effect occurred for salient S-contours only consciously. These results suggest that conscious awareness plays a pivotal role in coordinating a closure effect with the level of perceptual load. Only salient circles can be successfully integrated in an unconscious state under low perceptual load although both salient circles and S-contours can be done consciously. Our findings support a bi-directional mechanism that low-level sensory features interact with high-level cognitive factors in contour integration.

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Children’s autistic traits and peer relationships: do non-verbal IQ and externalizing problems play a role?

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health ◽

10.1186/s13034-021-00421-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Novika Purnama Sari ◽

Maartje P. C. M. Luijk ◽

Peter Prinzie ◽

Marinus H. van IJzendoorn ◽

Pauline W. Jansen

Keyword(s):

Peer Relationships ◽

Externalizing Problems ◽

Peer Acceptance ◽

Peer Rejection ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

Primary School Children ◽

Social Responsiveness ◽

Verbal Iq ◽

The Social ◽

High Level

Abstract Background Children with autism have difficulties in understanding relationships, yet little is known about the levels of autistic traits with regard to peer relationships. This study examined the association between autistic traits and peer relationships. Additionally, we examined whether the expected negative association is more pronounced in children with a lower non-verbal IQ and in those who exhibit more externalizing problems. Method Data were collected in a large prospective birth cohort of the Generation R Study (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) for which nearly 10,000 pregnant mothers were recruited between 2002 and 2006. Follow up data collection is still currently ongoing. Information on peer relationships was collected with PEERS application, an interactive computerized task (M = 7.8 years). Autistic traits were assessed among general primary school children by using the Social Responsiveness Scale (M = 6.1 years). Information was available for 1580 children. Result Higher levels of autistic traits predicted lower peer acceptance and higher peer rejection. The interaction of autistic traits with externalizing problems (but not with non-verbal IQ or sex) was significant: only among children with low externalizing problems, a higher level of autistic traits predicted less peer acceptance and more peer rejection. Among children exhibiting high externalizing problems, a poor peer acceptance and high level of rejection is seen independently of the level of autistic traits. Conclusion We conclude that autistic traits—including traits that do not classify as severe enough for a clinical diagnosis—as well as externalizing problems negatively impact young children’s peer relationships. This suggests that children with these traits may benefit from careful monitoring and interventions focused at improving peer relationships.

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