Visual Perception and Asperger Syndrome: Central Coherence Deficit or Hierarchization Deficit?

Abstract

The performance of eight adults diagnosed with Asperger syndrome was compared with the performance of a control group of adults on a range of perceptual tasks (the Block Design Task, the Embedded Figures Task, the Hierarchical Stimuli Task and the Impossible Figures Task). The tasks were selected in an attempt to test two models of perceptual deficit suggested to account for the pattern of perceptual performance typically associated with autistic spectrum disorders: the central coherence deficit model and the hierarchization deficit model. The aim of the investigation was to determine whether either model was appropriate as an explanation of perceptual skills amongst people with Asperger syndrome. Tentative support for the hierarchization deficit model was demonstrated.