Research indicates that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are superior at local processing while the integration of local features to global percepts is reduced. Here, we compared infants at familiar risk for ASD to typically developing infants in terms of global coherence processing at 5 months of age, using steady state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP). We found a different topographical organization for global form and motion processing in infants at risk (n = 50) than in controls (n = 23). In contrast, activation patterns for local visual change were strikingly similar between groups. Although preliminary, the results represent the first neurophysiological evidence supporting the view that basic atypicalities in perception may play a role in the developmental pathways leading to ASD.

研究表明，自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的个体在局部处理方面表现出色，而局部特征与全局感知的整合却减少了。在这里，我们使用稳态视觉诱发电位（SSVEP），比较了在5个月大时具有整体连贯性的婴儿中，发生ASD风险的婴儿与通常发育的婴儿。我们发现有风险的婴儿（n = 50）与对照组（n = 23）的整体形态和动作处理的地形组织不同。相反，各组之间局部视觉变化的激活模式极为相似。尽管是初步的，但结果代表了第一个神经生理学证据，支持了以下观点：知觉的基本非典型性可能在导致ASD的发育途径中起作用。