Abstract
The influence of stimulus salience on over-selective responding was investigated in the context of a comparator theory of over-selectivity. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were presented with two cards, each displaying two colors. In comparison to matched control participants, participants with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrated more over-selectivity, which increased when the stimuli differed in salience. In Experiment 3, the over-selected color was extinguished, and the previously under-selected color emerged to control behavior. The results suggest that stimuli of different salience may trigger over-selectivity in individuals with ASD, and provide preliminary support that this may be due to the action of an over-sensitive comparator mechanism functioning at the retrieval level of processing.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the kind participation of the participants, and their parents, in this research, and we thank them very much for their time and involvement. Thanks are also due to the schools who kindly participated, and to Lisa A. Osborne for her support.
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Leader, G., Loughnane, A., McMoreland, C. et al. The Effect of Stimulus Salience on Over-selectivity. J Autism Dev Disord 39, 330–338 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-008-0626-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-008-0626-y