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document
Superior modulation of activation levels of stimulus representations does not underlie superior discrimination in autism . The performance of children with and without autism was compared in object-based positive and negative priming tasks within a visual search procedure . Object-based positive and negative priming effects were found in both groups of children . This result provides the first evidence for the activation of object-based representations during visual search task performance and further supports the notion that both excitatory and inhibitory guidance mechanisms are involved in target location in visual search . The children with autism were overall better than the typically developing children at visual search , thus replicating demonstrations of superior discrimination in autism . Furthermore , there was no difference between the magnitude of the positive nor the negative priming effects of the groups . This finding suggests that excitatory and inhibitory control operate comparably in autism and normal development . These results are discussed in the light of the superior ability of individuals with autism to discriminate between items . More specifically , it is argued that superior discrimination in autism does not result from enhanced top-down excitatory and inhibitory control .
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Intervention_Educational
object-based positive and negative priming tasks
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Intervention_Educational
visual search procedure .
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Intervention_Educational
visual search task performance
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Outcome_Other
positive and negative priming effects
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Outcome_Other
object-based representations
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Outcome_Other
excitatory and inhibitory guidance mechanisms
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Outcome_Physical
visual search
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Outcome_Other
priming effects
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Outcome_Other
excitatory and inhibitory control operate comparably
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Outcome_Physical
normal development