| The current study investigated differences in change detection ability between two groups of adolescents, typically developing (TD) and those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder(ASD). Past research suggested that, compared to their TD peers, individuals diagnosed with ASD are faster and more accurate when detecting small details in complex pictures because they show a preference for local rather than holistic processing (i.e. Weak Central Coherence theory). Individualsdiagnosed with ASD may also experiencedifficultiesdetecting changes in facial expressions because human faces typically require holistic processing. For this reason, the current study evaluated the differences in response time, response accuracy, and labeling accuracy, asking the ASD and TD participants to detect and label emotional and physical changes presented on pictures of human faces. The current study included fivematched pairs. Theresults did not support the research hypotheses but indicated that participants diagnosed with ASD struggled when labeling emotional expressions.Key Words:weak central coherence, facial processing, change blindness, ASD, autism |