Visual perception in Autism

[Suzette]

I found this video about visual perception in Autism on YouTube this morning. It is actually an introduction to a scientists doctoral thesis. In the video she explains how she tracked the gaze of NDs and NTs and her conclusion. I am not explaining quite right but you will understand if you watch the video.
I found this video quite fascinating. I have not concluded with 100% certainty that I am on the spectrum. But during the video she showed still images and I noticed what I looked at first, she then explains what an autistic person looks at first.
After watching this video I am edging closer to knowing I am indeed on the spectrum.
Have a look. You might find it fascinating too.

 

[Raggamuffin]

Not sure how it'd create a more "sensory friendly society" as she puts it.

Ed

 

[QuestJan]

Funny, I am a gestalt learner but apparently, like you, closely examine the details.

The RW issue is when I go into places like banks and need to figure out the correct path to the agent through the ropes. I am not the dullest tool in the shed but it can take some effort to figure out a room.

 

[Suzette]

Funny, I am a gestalt learner but apparently, like you, closely examine the details.

The RW issue is when I go into places like banks and need to figure out the correct path to the agent through the ropes. I am not the dullest tool in the shed but it can take some effort to figure out a room.

I had never heard the term "gestalt learner". I had to look it up. This describes me too. But maybe the details are our strength in pattern recognition. Michael Angelo could not see an angel in the marble if he was looking at the marble as a whole.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

Just a personal observation:

I will do intermittent fasting 3-4X per week,...just eating a big lunch and then drinking water throughout the day. I can tell when I am starting my ketosis state because my vision becomes what I would characterize as hyper-focused. My visual acuity is 110%,...but it's almost a form of tunnel vision as well,...the field of focus becomes much narrower. It's at this point where I find that I focus highly upon details. It is an asset when doing things like mechanical ventilator waveform graphics and trend data analysis, doing physical exams on tiny, premature babies, and focusing upon laboratory analysis,...I literally "ghost" people around me. Not the best for social interaction, but if I want to get something that is highly detailed done precisely,...can't beat that.

Conversely, I do find that those moments when my brain does get exhausted, all my focus seems to fade away and I am not sure how I am navigating my world visually.

The study above seems like an interesting one. I know researchers have already done similar tests using cameras to assess autism in babies,...looking to see how long they focus upon different objects, color contrasts, faces, etc. within their visual field.

 

[tree]

I like the idea of the way the study is being done.

The voice was very difficult for me to listen to.
It was close to sounding like a machine, or as if
the words were somehow mashed/cut up smaller
than they would be normally. Compressed.

 

[KimS]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I've sent the link to many members of my family. My husband is a pysch prof who studies visual perception. Its ironic because he completely lacks visual search skills. I have to find the ketchup bottle and such in the fridge for him because he gets so frustrated. Though when I watched the video I was like what E?

 

[Booknerd515]

I liked watching this video. Though for me, unless I am in a bad panic state and then my vision will get fuzzy, most of the time I see everything all at once and I can keep track of multiple things happening in my vision. I also occasionally see things in slow motion and then again in normal motion at will and I don't know why I do. I have told my doctors this and they have seen me do it and they think it is a sort of mental superpower because they've seen very few people be able to multitask like I have. I can read words so fast on a page I just look at them and they go instantly in my memory but I wasn't always a fast reader, I had to learn how to do it from speed-reading tutorials online and I don't like focusing on specific texts lines because letters have always moved for me if I do. I will also note that every single minute I often see bright spots and lines and other colors in my vision due to the immense amount of chronic pain I have and this has been going on for months. That study seemed really interesting to me.

 

[Thinx]

I saw the Hs clearly and the E latterly. I can't tend to find things that have something over them, unless I can get used to a common issue, for example my partner puts a cloth over the drying dishes, and I often ask where something is that turns out to be, or might have been predicted to be, under the cloth. Weird.

But I now sometimes remember that this could be the answer to the puzzle of why my cup or other item is apparently missing. But it does remind me of how one can hide things from babies and small children by covering them. Suggesting it's a processing issue that doesn't develop the same for (some?) Aspies?

 

[SimonSays]

The need for the narrator to speak so fast made it hard to watch. I had to stop. Instead of revealing everything in 3 minutes, take 5 and SLOW DOWN.

 

[SusanLR]

I liked the video.
Everything it pointed out that autistics focus on fits my way of seeing exactly.
Never realised that before.
The only thing I've noticed in real life is that I see a lot of objects or things that others overlook
and would never see unless I point it out.
Even then they sometimes can't see it and seem to get angry at me because they can't.
Makes me feel like, so it's my fault you don't see it?

 

[SDRSpark]

Great video! It definitely explains a lot. I didn't know everyone didn't see this way?

I definitely saw the H's first. In the library, I was hyperfocused on the chairs (different shapes, colors) while in the back of my mind wondering if I was "supposed" to be looking at something else instead. Turns out I was way off, most people look at the layout. I didn't recognize the room, by the way.

 

[Suzette]

The need for the narrator to speak so fast made it hard to watch. I had to stop. Instead of revealing everything in 3 minutes, take 5 and SLOW DOWN.

I usually watch YouTube videos without sound first. Then I watch a second time but mainly focus on the sound.
If the vid is a story, sometimes skip the sound altogether as the story is self explainatory, animal videos and the like.

 

[Martha Ferris]

I seem to have two types of vision. When I responded to emergencies at the hospital as soon as I walked in the door I quickly scanned the room and everyone in it including the patient to see what was going on then based on that quick scan I proceeded to do what I needed to do. I was hyper focused. Also when I am in this state I become almost mute. I am focused on doing not on talking. If I want/need to talk I have to break away and change direction in my brain. It causes problems when I am asked a question in that situation.
On the other hand I have difficulty upon entering a place of where am I supposed to go. This applies to walking and driving. I have trouble following the ropes in the bank especially if there are a lot of turns. I can't seem to process the path. It is easier if there is a line of people I can aim toward but when the lane is empty I just skip it and go to the front. It is easier than trying to figure out the twists and turns. When driving I have trouble figuring out where I am supposed to turn. For example in town there are three openings close together. One is an entrance to a business, the center one is the road I want to take and the third is a pull off area. One right after the other. There is nothing to obstruct the view of any of the openings. I have lived here five years and I still struggle to find the road I want to take when trying to turn there. It really freaked me out when a cop car was sitting in the pull off area. I couldn't tell which place it was in and thought it was sitting at the corner of the road I wanted to take waiting to make a turn so I kept heading toward it and planned to turn to the left of it as I would if it was on the corner of the road. Only at the last minute did I realize my mistake and made a quick turn all the while being afraid he would come after me for some violation or suspicion.
An interesting thing to me is when I do mazes on paper I look at the maze as a whole then I solve it backwards.
When I watched the video (3 times) my main focus was furniture placement. Then the colors of the furniture. Then the design of the furniture. Then wondering why the furniture wasn't all the same. That is all I got out of the photo. I was aware of the rest of the objects in the photo but the furniture is what captured my attention.
When I first looked at the E/H picture I saw both but I had difficulty understanding what I was supposed to look at. I thought that there was supposed to be an E in amongst the H's and had to watch the video three times before I finally understood what was expected of me. Why couldn't I see the E? Then I realized that that what was meant was that the E was formed by the H's.

 

[Progster]

I definitely see the Hs before I see the E. There's a similar one I once saw of lots of smaller As making up a big A. People were asked what they saw, and autistic people were more likely to say "lots of small As that make a big A" NTs were more likely to say "A big A that is made up of little As".

 

[Suzette]

I saw the hs first. I only saw the e because the video directed me to look for it. In the other photo I saw the people at the back of the room. It took me the rest of the segment to fill in the windows and chairs.

I am sure you have seen those puzzles on the internet where there is a scene completley filled with some animal or object and you have to find the odd one? I excel at those.

 

[SimonSays]

Try this...

 

[QuestJan]

The need for the narrator to speak so fast made it hard to watch. I had to stop. Instead of revealing everything in 3 minutes, take 5 and SLOW DOWN.

@SimonSays, I love the speed control in settings so I can set it to a good processing speed. Wish I could IRL

 

[ForestGumpett]

@Suzette ; We’ve mentioned Ehlers before. This is Monocular diplopia below. Ehlers can mess up and change your vision even by the hour on some days. If it gets too bad you may consider talking to your doctor for an MRI to check out things if your vision gets real bad or something different is happening just to be safe. MS can cause these symptoms too. Have this in each eye the neurologist said so I finally stopped driving lol. You get use to it if you don’t know the difference, even got good at darts!

 

[ForestGumpett]

I use to call that hospital mode and wish I was on it all the time. I never missed a beat when working in the hospital, was way hyper focused one everything. Picked up where others left off and had energy I’ve never had since. I do miss that rush and enjoyed working there.

My home life has always been a mess.

I seem to have two types of vision. When I responded to emergencies at the hospital as soon as I walked in the door I quickly scanned the room and everyone in it including the patient to see what was going on then based on that quick scan I proceeded to do what I needed to do. I was hyper focused. Also when I am in this state I become almost mute. I am focused on doing not on talking. If I want/need to talk I have to break away and change direction in my brain. It causes problems when I am asked a question in that situation.
On the other hand I have difficulty upon entering a place of where am I supposed to go. This applies to walking and driving. I have trouble following the ropes in the bank especially if there are a lot of turns. I can't seem to process the path. It is easier if there is a line of people I can aim toward but when the lane is empty I just skip it and go to the front. It is easier than trying to figure out the twists and turns. When driving I have trouble figuring out where I am supposed to turn. For example in town there are three openings close together. One is an entrance to a business, the center one is the road I want to take and the third is a pull off area. One right after the other. There is nothing to obstruct the view of any of the openings. I have lived here five years and I still struggle to find the road I want to take when trying to turn there. It really freaked me out when a cop car was sitting in the pull off area. I couldn't tell which place it was in and thought it was sitting at the corner of the road I wanted to take waiting to make a turn so I kept heading toward it and planned to turn to the left of it as I would if it was on the corner of the road. Only at the last minute did I realize my mistake and made a quick turn all the while being afraid he would come after me for some violation or suspicion.
An interesting thing to me is when I do mazes on paper I look at the maze as a whole then I solve it backwards.
When I watched the video (3 times) my main focus was furniture placement. Then the colors of the furniture. Then the design of the furniture. Then wondering why the furniture wasn't all the same. That is all I got out of the photo. I was aware of the rest of the objects in the photo but the furniture is what captured my attention.
When I first looked at the E/H picture I saw both but I had difficulty understanding what I was supposed to look at. I thought that there was supposed to be an E in amongst the H's and had to watch the video three times before I finally understood what was expected of me. Why couldn't I see the E? Then I realized that that what was meant was that the E was formed by the H's.