What is the effect of stimulus complexity on attention to repeating and changing information in autism

Arora, Iti, Bellato, Alessio, Gliga, Teodora, Ropar, Danielle, Kochhar, Puja, Hollis, Chris and Groom, Madeleine (2022) What is the effect of stimulus complexity on attention to repeating and changing information in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52 (2). 600–616. ISSN 0162-3257

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Abstract

Slower habituation to repeating stimuli characterises Autism, but it is not known whether this is driven by difficulties with information processing or an attentional bias towards sameness. We conducted eye-tracking and presented looming geometrical shapes, clocks with moving arms and smiling faces, as two separate streams of stimuli (one repeating and one changing), to 7–15 years old children and adolescents (n = 103) with Autism, ADHD or co-occurring Autism+ADHD, and neurotypical children (Study-1); and to neurotypical children (n = 64) with varying levels of autistic traits (Study-2). Across both studies, autistic features were associated with longer looks to the repeating stimulus, and shorter looks to the changing stimulus, but only for more complex stimuli, indicating greater difficulty in processing complex or unpredictable information.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: The datasets analysed in the current study as well as example videos of stimuli are available currently at https://osf.io/v9fex/. Raw eye-tracking files and videos used in the task are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Baily Thomas Charitable Foundation (who provided a doctoral studentship to Iti Arora), the National Institute for Health Research Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre Mental Health & Technology Theme [grant number BRC-1215-20003] and the University of Nottingham. Author acknowledgements: We are grateful for the participation, time, patience and cooperation of all the children, young people and their families who took part in this study. We thank the CAMHS and Community Paediatrics teams within Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire NHS Foundation Trusts, Autism support groups in Nottingham and ADHD Solutions support group, as well as schools and SENCO teams in Nottingham and Leicester for their assistance with recruitment. We thank Emma Connolly, Cameron Khakh, Darikha Senanayake, Sarah Connelly and Haneen Abdul Hamid for help with data collection. Funding Information: This work was supported by the Baily Thomas Charitable Foundation (who provided a doctoral studentship to Iti Arora), the National Institute for Health Research Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre Mental Health & Technology Theme [grant number BRC-1215-20003] and the University of Nottingham. We are grateful for the participation, time, patience and cooperation of all the children, young people and their families who took part in this study. We thank the CAMHS and Community Paediatrics teams within Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire NHS Foundation Trusts, Autism support groups in Nottingham and ADHD Solutions support group, as well as schools and SENCO teams in Nottingham and Leicester for their assistance with recruitment. We thank Emma Connolly, Cameron Khakh, Darikha Senanayake, Sarah Connelly and Haneen Abdul Hamid for help with data collection.
Uncontrolled Keywords: autism,autistic traits,eye-tracking,habituation,information foraging,developmental and educational psychology ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3200/3204
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 16 Mar 2021 00:50
Last Modified: 25 Sep 2024 23:56
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/79471
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-04961-6

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