The role of visual complexity in the development of typical and autistic children. A: children 1- 4 years old

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (or ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder
characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interaction, in verbal and
nonverbal communication domain, and by restricted/stereotypical behavior
(DSM-IV). This lifelong handicap has an estimated prevalence of 13 per 10,000.
For a long time, it was thought that ASD was due to a fundamental problem in
processing social and emotional information. However, lately evidence is
emerging for differential perceptual processing in individuals with ASD that
points to a more general underlying cognitive problem. Especially in the field
of visual perception, clear indications of abnormal processin have been found,
that could be the basis for the wide range of symptoms found in ASD. A recent
theory that seeks to explain the perceptual abnormalities in ASD is the
complexity-specific theory, which emphasizes diffuse neural dysfunction of
neuro-integrative mechanisms. Complexity of different stimuli is thus seen as
the detrimental factor for ASD. As compensatory processes can conceal the
"core" disfunction, it is critical to shed light on the early evolvement of
perceptual organization and follow the developmental path of normal and
abnormal development. This project will investigate the influence of different
dimensions and degrees of visual complexity on perceptual organisation in early
development of ASD.

The overall aim of this prospective study is identifying early markers for
Autistic Spectrum Disorders by following the developmental track of visual
perception in normal and abnormal development, eventually leading to a basis
for effective treatment of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. To achieve this overall
aim, we have the following short-term aims:
1. to characterize how various levels of complexity of objects and contexts
affect visual intake in typical and abnormal development.
2. to characterize how various levels of complexity of objects and contexts
affect interpretation of visual information-intake in typical and abnormal
development.

The research shall be imbedded in the DIANE project, that is concerned with
early diagnosis and intervention of Autistic Spectrum Disorder in infants
between 12 and 36 months old. There is a yearly inflow of about 80 infants, of
whom about 70% are diagnosed with Autism. After diagnosis, infants will be
taking part in both the observational experiments twice, with a year interval.
The eye tracking research for the infants with Autistic Spectrum Disorder shall
take place at Karakter Nijmegen - University Center for Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry of the Radboud University Medical Centre. The control groups shall
be tested in the lab of Prof. Dr. H. Bekkering of the Nijmegen Institute for
Cognition and Information (NICI, Radboud University Nijmegen). The ERP
measurement for all groups shall take place in the EEG babylab of the FC
Donders Centre.

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