Understanding Visual Perception in Autism
We are running a study investigating the brain mechanisms involved in visual perception, and the ways in which sensory information may be processed differently in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and with socio-emotional difficulties.
We are currently inviting healthy control participants who are over 18 years of age, right-handed and have English as their first language. You must not have: a diagnosis of ASD, a psychiatric diagnosis in the past and/or currently use psychotropic medication, an intellectual disability, or a neurological condition (e.g. epilepsy, brain injury, chronic migraines).
If you are happy to take part in this study, you will be asked to attend a single study session of approximately 90-120 minutes at the University of Oxford. During this session, you will complete the following tasks:
- Visual processing task: During this computerised task, you will be presented with 50s ‘movie’ streams in which house and face images sometimes appear. We will ask that you count the number of times either a house or a face appears, and report your answer at the end of each movie stream. Your brain activity will be recorded using EEG (a non-invasive technique) throughout this task. This means that a snug fitting cap made of elasticated cloth material and containing sensors will be worn on your head for approximately 60 minutes.
- Cognitive tasks: You will be asked to define some words and to solve short visual puzzles.
- Questionnaires: You will be asked to fill out some questionnaires on various aspects of your thoughts, feelings and behaviours as well as your current or past mental health symptoms.
You will be paid £10 an hour for your time.
If you are interested in participating, or have further questions, please email Ms Emily Whelan at the Centre for Autism Research Oxford using either email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.org.
This study has been approved by the Central University Research Ethics Committee (reference: R55169/RE001).