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Cross-Modal Selective Attention and Perceptual Load in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Cross-Modal Selective Attention and Perceptual Load in Autism Spectrum Disorder Cross-modal Selective Attention and Perceptual Load in Autism Spectrum Disorder Julian Tillmann University College London A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2015 1 Declaration I, Julian Tillmann confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. J. Tillmann 2 Abstract This thesis investigated cross-modal selective attention in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) individuals using the Load Theory of Selective Attention and Cognitive Control (Lavie, 1995). Perceptual load theory states that perception of irrelevant stimuli depends on the perceptual load of the task (the amount of task relevant information). At low levels of perceptual load, when finite perceptual capacity is not reached, remaining resources ‘spill over’ and irrelevant stimuli are automatically processed; when perceptual load exhausts capacity, irrelevant stimuli are no longer processed. In ASD, there is some evidence that on visual attention tasks, individuals with ASD continue to process visual information at higher levels of perceptual load than controls, indicative of an increased perceptual capacity (Remington, Swettenham, & Lavie, 2012; Remington, Swettenham, Campbell, & Coleman, 2009; Swettenham, Remington, Murphy, Feuerstein, Grim, & Lavie, 2014). This thesis tested novel predictions derived from these findings for contexts of cross-modal selective attention. Using behavioural measures, the extent to which participants were able to attend to auditory information was examined as a function of the perceptual demands of a visual task. It was shown that individuals with ASD continued to report awareness of auditory information at higher levels of visual perceptual load than matched typically developing individuals. This was evident on tasks that measured both awareness for an unexpected, as well as expected auditory stimulus. Together, these findings suggest that individuals with ASD are characterised by an increased perceptual capacity that operates across sensory modalities. 3 For Eva and Ilya 4 Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................. 2 Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 3 Contents ...................................................................................................................... 5 List of Tables .............................................................................................................. 8 List of Figures ............................................................................................................. 9 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................... 12 Chapter 1 Autism ............................................................................................... 13 Diagnosis...................................................................................................... 13 Prevalence .................................................................................................... 15 Theories on ASD ................................................................................................... 15 Psychological theories .......................................................................................... 17 Difficulties with Theory of Mind ................................................................. 17 Executive Dysfunction ................................................................................. 20 Weak Central Coherence ............................................................................. 22 Chapter 2 Selective attention and perceptual load theory ............................. 26 Early selection vs. late selection .......................................................................... 28 Perceptual load theory ......................................................................................... 33 Conscious awareness and perceptual load theory ........................................ 36 Cross-modal selective attention and perceptual load ................................... 40 Dilution theory ............................................................................................. 43 Selective attention and autism............................................................................. 46 Arousal ......................................................................................................... 47 Sustained attention ....................................................................................... 48 Orienting, Disengaging and Shifting attention ............................................ 48 Selectivity & filtering .................................................................................. 49 Visual search ................................................................................................ 52 Perceptual load theory & selective attention in ASD ........................................ 54 Perceptual load and cross-modal selective attention in ASD ........................... 58 Chapter 3 Development of awareness: Effects of age and perceptual load on inattentional deafness .............................................................................................. 60 Experiment 1......................................................................................................... 67 Method .................................................................................................................. 68 Participants ................................................................................................... 68 Stimuli .......................................................................................................... 69 Procedure ..................................................................................................... 70 Results ................................................................................................................... 72 5 Awareness of critical stimulus ..................................................................... 72 Effect of age and perceptual load on awareness rates .................................. 73 Cross task performance ................................................................................ 74 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 74 Chapter 4 The effect of visual perceptual load on auditory awareness in Autism Spectrum Disorder...................................................................................... 79 Experiment 2......................................................................................................... 81 Method .................................................................................................................. 82 Participants ................................................................................................... 82 Stimuli and Procedure .................................................................................. 83 Results ................................................................................................................... 84 Cross task performance ................................................................................ 84 Awareness of critical stimulus ..................................................................... 85 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 88 Chapter 5 The effect of visual perceptual load on auditory awareness of a social vs. non-social stimulus in ASD ..................................................................... 92 Processing of speech sounds in typically developing individuals ..................... 94 The development of speech sound processing abilities ............................... 94 Neural selectivity for speech sounds............................................................ 95 Is speech processing an automatic and mandatory process? ....................... 98 Speech sound processing in ASD ........................................................................ 98 Orienting to speech in ASD ......................................................................... 99 Neuroimaging and electrophysiological studies ........................................ 100 Attention to speech – is speech special in ASD? ....................................... 103 Experiment 3: Effect of visual perceptual load on awareness of a socially meaningful stimulus in ASD .............................................................................. 104 Method ................................................................................................................ 106 Participants ................................................................................................. 106 Stimuli and Procedure ................................................................................ 107 Results ................................................................................................................. 110 Line discrimination performance ............................................................... 110 Threshold analysis ..................................................................................... 112
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