Typically developing (TD) adults are able to extract global information from natural images and to categorize them within a single glance. This study aimed at extending these findings to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using a free description open-encoding paradigm. Participants were asked to freely describe what they saw when…

Prosaccade and antisaccade errors in the context of social and nonsocial stimuli were investigated in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 19) a matched control sample (n = 19), and a small sample of youth with obsessive compulsive disorder (n = 9). Groups did not differ in error rates in the prosaccade condition for any stimulus…

This study employed eye-tracking technology to examine how students with different levels of prior knowledge process text and data diagrams when reading a web-based scientific report. Students' visual behaviors were tracked and recorded when they read a report demonstrating the relationship between the greenhouse effect and global climate…

The current research investigated, firstly, whether individuals with high levels of mild autistic-like traits display a similar profile of embedded figures test (EFT) and global motion performance to that seen in autism. Secondly, whether differences in EFT performance are related to enhanced local processing or reduced global processing in the…

Three experiments involving 107 adults who performed mental rotation tasks explored how location information is incorporated into image representation. Results suggest that image is coded retinotopically in image representations and that there is no spatiotropic transform in the early stages of visual processing. (SLD)

We examined the performance of a group of people with moderately severe Alzheimer's type dementia on a naming task. We found that functional information plays an important role in determining naming performance on both living and non-living things. Perceptual information may play some role in naming living things. We also found some evidence that…

The traditional explanation for dual-task interference is that tasks compete for scarce processing resources. Another possible explanation is that the outcome of the processing required for one task conflicts with the processing required for the other task. To explore the contribution of outcome conflict to task interference, this paper describes…

Two experiments were conducted to assess whether the distribution of fixation times might be related to the prevailing cognitive activity involved with two different tasks, i.e., driving and observing colored fields. The results suggest that the distribution of fixation times can be associated with the prevailing cognitive activity while viewing.…

The predictive power of various cognitive skills at three months of age in terms of later cognitive functioning was examined. Visual habituation and recovery predicted later intellectual functioning at 24 months better than global intelligence or object permanence scores. Changes in cognitive functioning may be a transformation of skills.…

Six-month-old African-American infants' expectation of a visual stimulus was related to developmental measures. Reaction time was related to eye fixation in tests that measured visual recognition memory (VRM) and presented objects of different shapes to the infant. Reaction time and infants' stimulus expectation predicted VRM novelty preference.…

The spatial layout of visual displays was evaluated by means of three magnitude estimation tasks and one reproduction task. Each stimulus display consisted of 16 randomly-drawn, two-digit numbers. Six different spatial layouts, or display types, were used: systematic vs. random spatial order of numbers; regular vs. irregular boundaries of the…

In two experiments subjects were required to determine whether a random, angular form, presented at any of a number of picture-plane orientations was a "standard" or "reflected" version. Average time required to make this determination increased linearly with the angular departure of the form from a previously learned orientation. (Author/BJG)

To gain a better understanding of visual perception in reading, a study tested the predictive validity of the Goodman Model of Reading by measuring the extent to which 82 college students (graduate and undergraduate) were able to perceive and accurately report 10 lines of print. It also attempted to integrate research conducted over the past 100…

Previous studies have found that an object can be categorized faster at a basic level (hammer) than at either a subordinate (club hammer) or a superordinate level (tool). While some attribute this result to basic categories having more distinctive attributes, other factors might cause this result. For example, basic categories routinely have…

The spread of encoding concept was tested visually by having subjects view pictures which varied in contour completeness. The hypothesis was supported that as contour completeness decreased, the amount of perceptual analysis and memory performance would increase. (Author/MH)