Zoom-out attentional impairment in children with autism spectrum disorder

摘要: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has long been associated with an inability to experience wholes without full attention the constituent parts. A zoom-out attentional dysfunction might be partially responsible for this perceptual integration deficit in ASD. In present study, efficiency of focusing mechanisms was investigated children affected by We measured response latencies a visual target onset displayed at three eccentricities from fixation. Attentional resources were focused (zoom-in) or distributed (zoom-out) field presenting small (containing only nearest eccentricity) large also farthest cue, 100 800 msec, before onset. Typically developing children, short cue-target interval, showed gradient effect (i.e., are slower but not cue condition. These results indicate efficient zoom-in and mechanism. contrast, ASD condition, suggesting specific impairment. addition, group atypical interval prolonged sluggish This abnormal - probably linked dysfunctional top-down feedback fronto-parietal network early areas could contribute perception individuals which, turn, have consequences their social-communicative development.