Imagine What You Can Afford: Exploring Central Coherence for Object Affordances in Autism Spectrum Disorder

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social-communicative deficits and restricted or repetitive behaviors. There is some indication that individuals with ASD interact with objects in unconventional ways (Williams, Costall, & Reddy, 1999). According to J.J. Gibson, the perceivable ways in which individuals interact with their environment, including everyday objects, are called affordances (1979). In the past, ASD severity has been positively associated with the number of affordances reported by individuals with ASD (Paul et al., 2020). According to Weak Central Coherence Theory, individuals with ASD tend to focus on parts of an object (local processing), rather than the object as a whole (global processing; Frith, 1989). Therefore, we hypothesized that an increase in ASD severity would be associated with more reported affordances based on the abilities of individuals with ASD to identify various parts of objects.

Sixty-eight adults participated in the study, 42 neurotypical individuals and 26 individuals with ASD (all were verbally competent with no underlying intellectual disabilities). Participants completed an online survey where they were asked to list all of the ways they could interact with six different objects: duct tape, paperclip, shoe, rubber band, and two novel objects. Each verb counted as one affordance, and responses were further categorized as "global" if they required the whole object to complete the action (e.g., “washing” a shoe) or "local" (e.g., “tying” a shoelace of a shoe) if only a part of the object was required to complete the action. Participants also completed the RAADS-14, a measure of ASD severity (Eriksson, Andersen, & Bejerot, 2013).

There was a significant positive association between ASD severity and the average number of affordances reported, r(68)=.284, p=.019. ASD severity was positively associated with affordances for most of the objects [duct tape, r(68)=.083, p=.501; paperclip, r(68)=.328, p=.006; shoe r(68)=.215, p=.078; rubber band r(68)=.275, p=.023; banana holder r(68)=.262, p=.031; and white object, r(68)=.264, p=.030]. There was also a positive association between ASD severity and the average number of local affordances, r(68)=.244, p=.044 [duct tape, r(68)=.041, p=.741; paperclip, r(68)=.190, p=.121; shoe, r(68)=.320, p=.008; banana holder, r(68)=.176, p=.150; white object, r(68)=.342, p=.004], and global affordances, r(68)=.288, p=.017 [duct tape, r(68)=.264, p=.030; paperclip, r(68)=.319, p=.008; shoe, r(68)=.139, p=.259; rubber band, r(68)=.297, p=.014; banana holder, r(68)=.197, p=.108; white object, r(68)=.050, p=.686].

The results partially supported our hypothesis. While ASD severity was related to local affordances, unexpectedly, it was also associated with more reported global affordances. This challenges the idea that individuals with ASD have difficulty processing information for meaning in context; instead, there may actually be a preference for attending to local aspects of stimuli, not a deficit in their global processing ability.

Authors

• Tiffani Paul, Clemson University
  Presenting Author

• Iliana Hebda, Clemson University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert Isenhower, Rider University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brian Day, Butler University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Bailey Grandits, Clemson University
  Non-Presenting Author