The effects of grouping on speed discrimination thresholds in adults, typically developing children, and children with autism

Journal of Vision
Catherine ManningElizabeth Pellicano

Abstract

Adult observers show elevated speed discrimination thresholds when comparing the speeds of objects moving across a boundary compared to those moving parallel to a boundary (Verghese & McKee, 2006)-an effect that has been attributed to grouping processes in conjunction with a prior for smooth motion. Here, we extended Verghese and McKee's (2006) paradigm to typically developing children (n = 35) and children with autism (n = 26) and compared their performance with that of typical adults (n = 19). Speed discrimination thresholds were measured in three conditions: (a) with dots moving parallel to a boundary, (b) with dots moving perpendicular to a boundary, and (c) with dots in each stimulus half moving in orthogonal, oblique directions. As expected, participants had higher speed discrimination thresholds when dots appeared to cross a boundary compared to when dots moved parallel to the boundary. However, participants had even higher thresholds when dots moved in oblique, orthogonal directions, where grouping should be minimal. All groups of participants showed a similar pattern of performance across conditions although children had higher thresholds than adult participants overall. We consider various explanations for the pattern...Continue Reading

Citations

Jul 22, 2018·Journal of Vision·Catherine ManningOliver Braddick

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