04-01-2022 | Original Paper
Specific Global–Local Visual Processing Abilities Mediate the Influence of Non-social Autistic-like Traits on Mental Rotation
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 1/2023
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Inconsistent data are available on mental rotation performance in neurotypicals with high autistic-like traits. Here, we tested whether global–local visual processing abilities mediate the influence of specific autistic-like trait domains (social skill, attention switching, attention-to-detail, communication, and imagination) on mental rotation. Neurotypical participants (N = 128) underwent an assessment of autistic-like traits, a flanker task with hierarchical stimuli, and a mental rotation task. Path analysis showed that Reaction Times on the incongruent/local condition of the flanker task mediated the relationship between attention-to-detail and mental rotation accuracy. These findings indicate that a better capacity of ignoring incongruent global information to identify local information (reduced global interference) in persons with high non-social autistic-like traits, as attention-to-detail, facilitates mental rotation performance.