Identifying Attention Commonalities and Differences Between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder

The present study examined one of Posner and Petersen’s (1990) attention networks (i.e., orienting – the ability to selectively focus on pertinent information) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as compared to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD). The orienting processes of disengagement (i.e., reallocation of attention away from one stimulus onto another) and shifting (i.e., movement of attention from one stimulus to another) were studied via a novel eye-tracking task designed to measure exogenous (externally-cued) and endogenous (internally-cued) attention. The study’s purpose was to analyse whether unique orienting impairments are present in ASD that are separate from those observed in AD/HD. The ASD group showed marginally-significant delays with exogenous disengagement and shifting as compared to the AD/HD group. The AD/HD group showed significantly greater fixation durations when disengaging their endogenous attention as compared to the ASD group. In conclusion, patterns of unique orienting deficiencies appear to be present in the ASD population.

Author dc:creator

• Oczak, Sara

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bebko, James M.

• Clinical psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Cognitive psychology

Statement dc:rights

• Author owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10315/29911

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:yorkspace.library.yorku.ca:10315/29911