Perceptual Influences on Cognitive Peaks of Ability in Autism
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Individuals with autism recurrently demonstrate faster and more accurate performance (cognitive peaks) on the Block Design Task (BDT) subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Cognitive accounts suggest that peak BDT performance derives from a reduced "top-down" interference of perceptual cohesiveness of the global figure, whereas perceptual accounts suggest that peaks may originate from superior local visual processing (bottom-up) of component blocks. Using a computerized version of the BDT, the current study assessed whether this characteristic peak originates from a bottom-up perceptual origin by manipulating the visual attributes defining the component blocks of the BDT. Secondly, this study assessed whether there is a relationship in performance difference between manual (traditional) and computerized measures of the BDT. Twenty participants with and without autism completed both traditional and computerized versions of the BDT. For the computerized version, participants were asked to match a centrally presented target design with one of 4 surrounding probes as quickly and accurately as possible, presented on a touch-sensitive screen. The visual attributes of the blocks were manipulated: traditional, red/white; luminance-defined, black/white; or texture-defined blocks. The perceptual coherence of blocks, was also manipulated, where low-coherence (LC) designs necessitated increased local analysis relative to high-coherence (HC) designs. Reaction times in the LC condition were significantly lower in the autism group (i.e., cognitive peak) for the black/white luminance condition only. Correlations between the manual and computerized BDT performance were negative, demonstrating that there is no relationship between performances on these two versions of the test. These results indicate that the characteristic, higher-level visuo-spatial performance in autism, as exemplified by cognitive peaks, may have a perceptual (bottom-up) rather than cognitive (top-down) origin. These results can inform clinical decisions regarding perceptual and cognitive strengths in individuals with autism. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.007 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".