Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Recently, there has been heightened interest in suggestions of enhanced visual acuity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which was sparked by evidence that was later accepted to be methodologically flawed. However, a recent study that claimed children with ASD have enhanced visual acuity (Brosnan et...

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Main Authors: Albrecht, Matthew, Stuart, Geoffrey, Falkmer, Marita, Ordqvist, Anna, Leung, Denise, Foster, Jonathan, Falkmer, Torbjorn
Format: Journal Article
Published: Springer New York LLC 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39644
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author Albrecht, Matthew
Stuart, Geoffrey
Falkmer, Marita
Ordqvist, Anna
Leung, Denise
Foster, Jonathan
Falkmer, Torbjorn
author_facet Albrecht, Matthew
Stuart, Geoffrey
Falkmer, Marita
Ordqvist, Anna
Leung, Denise
Foster, Jonathan
Falkmer, Torbjorn
author_sort Albrecht, Matthew
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Recently, there has been heightened interest in suggestions of enhanced visual acuity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which was sparked by evidence that was later accepted to be methodologically flawed. However, a recent study that claimed children with ASD have enhanced visual acuity (Brosnan et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 42:2491–2497, 2012) repeated a critical methodological flaw by using an inappropriate viewing distance fora computerised acuity test, placing the findings in doubt. We examined visual acuity in 31 children with ASD and 33controls using the 2 m 2000 Series Revised Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart placed at twice the conventional distance to better evaluate possible enhanced acuity. Children with ASD did not demonstrate superior acuity. The current findings strengthen the argument that reports of enhanced acuity in ASD are due to methodological flaws and challenges the reported association between visual acuity and systemising type behaviours.
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publishDate 2014
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-396442017-09-13T15:15:02Z Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Albrecht, Matthew Stuart, Geoffrey Falkmer, Marita Ordqvist, Anna Leung, Denise Foster, Jonathan Falkmer, Torbjorn Recently, there has been heightened interest in suggestions of enhanced visual acuity in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which was sparked by evidence that was later accepted to be methodologically flawed. However, a recent study that claimed children with ASD have enhanced visual acuity (Brosnan et al. in J Autism Dev Disord 42:2491–2497, 2012) repeated a critical methodological flaw by using an inappropriate viewing distance fora computerised acuity test, placing the findings in doubt. We examined visual acuity in 31 children with ASD and 33controls using the 2 m 2000 Series Revised Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart placed at twice the conventional distance to better evaluate possible enhanced acuity. Children with ASD did not demonstrate superior acuity. The current findings strengthen the argument that reports of enhanced acuity in ASD are due to methodological flaws and challenges the reported association between visual acuity and systemising type behaviours. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39644 10.1007/s10803-014-2086-x Springer New York LLC restricted
spellingShingle Albrecht, Matthew
Stuart, Geoffrey
Falkmer, Marita
Ordqvist, Anna
Leung, Denise
Foster, Jonathan
Falkmer, Torbjorn
Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
title Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
title_full Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
title_fullStr Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
title_full_unstemmed Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
title_short Brief Report: Visual Acuity in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
title_sort brief report: visual acuity in children with autism spectrum disorders
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39644