A Psychophysical Test of the Visual Pathway of Children with Autism

Signal detection psychophysical experiments were conducted to investigate the visual path of children with autism. Computer generated images with Gaussian noise were used. Simple signals, still and in motion were embedded in the background noise. The computer monitor was linearized to properly display the contrast changes. To our knowledge, this is the first time that experiments of this type have been done with observers with autism. Our results show that the visual capabilities of typically developed children were superior to those of the children with autism, and that the related problems of children with autism are sensation related only in a reduced proportion. There is no evidence that they are disabled in detecting simple visual stimuli, still and in motion.