Behavioral evidence for a functional link between low- and mid-level visual perception in the autism spectrum

The ability of AS individuals to discriminate a circular pattern is differentially affected by the availability (number of deformations along the RFP contour) and type (luminance vs texture) of local, low-level elements defining its contour. Performance is unaffected in AS when RFP discrimination is dependent on the analysis of local deformations of luminance-defined contour elements, but decreased across all RF conditions when local contour elements are texture-defined. These results suggest that efficient pattern perception in AS is functionally related to the efficacy with which its local elements are processed, indicative of an early origin for altered mid-level, pattern perception in AS.