The underdiagnosis of autism in females is often attributed to their ability to better mask symptoms compared to males.
New research from the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry and Vision Science may have discovered a significant lead to understanding this discrepancy through an analysis of how individuals with high autistic traits process visual information.
This study aimed to explore the possible correlations that might explain the underdiagnosis in females and to help in understanding how neurodivergence is related to sensory information processing.
Methodology
The research focused on a cohort of 400 children, aged 9 to 10, in New Zealand exhibiting varying degrees of autism traits.
The children underwent various vision and visuomotor processing tests, with the researchers analyzing the relationship between test performances and their autistic traits.
The visual tests included object recognition and hand-eye coordination tasks, with difficulty levels escalating with each correct response until the threshold value was identified and correlated with the autism trait scores.
Findings
The research revealed that the level of autistic traits in individuals significantly impacted their performance in visual tasks, with the impact manifesting differently based on the sex of the child.
Males with high autistic traits demonstrated challenges in object recognition and hand-eye coordination tasks, whereas females with similar traits only struggled with hand-eye coordination tasks.
The intact object recognition in females is speculated to be connected with their ability to navigate social situations and mask neurodivergence, given that the visual system involved is also responsible for face recognition and interpreting nonverbal communication and facial expressions.
Implications
This study sheds light on the potential inherent differences in visual systems among neurodivergent children and provides a new perspective on human neurodiversity.
Understanding the variances in how different sexes, and indeed different individuals, exhibit autistic traits can refine diagnostic approaches and awareness of autism spectrum conditions, especially in females who might otherwise be overlooked.
The specific differences observed in visual processing tasks between males and females could offer valuable insights into tailored diagnostic and intervention strategies.
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The research findings can be found in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
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