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; Groom, Madeleine

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-04961-6

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; Groom, Madeleine

Authors

Iti Arora

Alessio Bellato

Teodora Gliga

Professor DANIELLE ROPAR DANIELLE.ROPAR@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

Puja Kochhar

Professor CHRIS HOLLIS chris.hollis@nottingham.ac.uk
PROFESSOR OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY AND DIGITAL MENTAL HEALTH

Professor MADDIE GROOM maddie.groom@nottingham.ac.uk
PROFESSOR OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL CONDITIONS

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.

Citation

Arora, I., Bellato, A., Gliga, T., Ropar, D., Kochhar, P., Hollis, C., & Groom, M. (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. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04961-6

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 3, 2021
Online Publication Date	Mar 19, 2021
Publication Date	2022-02
Deposit Date	Mar 23, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Mar 23, 2021
Journal	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Print ISSN	0162-3257
Electronic ISSN	1573-3432
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	52
Issue	2
Pages	600–616
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-04961-6
Keywords	Developmental and Educational Psychology
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5412076
Publisher URL	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-021-04961-6