Visual Exploration and Attention: Studies in Patients With Schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorders

Visual Exploration and Attention : Studies in Patients With Schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorders

The aim of the protocol is to better understand the impairments in visual processing, as such impairments may induce social interaction difficulties in subjects with autism spectrum disorders (adults and children) and schizophrenia, like face exploration.The same protocol will be used for the three populations, each population being compared with matched controls. The explorations are designed to test two different hypotheses regarding the mechanisms of the visual perception difficulties of the two populations. Even though difficulties to extract the global form of objects have been described in both subjects with autism and schizophrenia, we will test two different hypotheses for the two populations. We will test the hypothesis that subjects with autism display an advantage for the processing of local information arising at an early level of processing, whereas disorders observed in patients with schizophrenia originate from attention disorders. The protocol includes three consecutive studies, each one being applied in each of the three populations.

Inclusion Criteria:

• IQ above 70, as evaluated with the WAIS III in adults and with the WISC in children
• signed consent
• DSM IV criteria in case of autism spectrum disorders or schizophrenia

Exclusion Criteria:

• grave or non stabilized somatic pathology
• pathology affecting the central nervous system; other than the studied pathologies
• intake of psychotropic drug, except for patients
• invalidating sensory processes