Specific Global-Local Visual Processing Abilities Mediate the Influence of Non-social Autistic-like Traits on Mental Rotation.

This study looked at how certain thinking styles related to autism affect spatial skills in typical adults. Researchers found that people who naturally focus on details (a common autistic trait) were better at mental rotation tasks because they could ignore distracting background information and focus on important details. This suggests that some autistic-like traits may actually provide advantages for certain visual-spatial thinking tasks.

This study examined how global-local visual processing abilities influence the relationship between autistic-like traits and mental rotation performance in neurotypical adults (N=128). Participants completed assessments of autistic-like traits across five domains (social skills, attention switching, attention-to-detail, communication, imagination), a flanker task measuring global-local processing, and a mental rotation task. Path analysis revealed that reaction times on incongruent/local conditions mediated the relationship between attention-to-detail traits and mental rotation accuracy. The findings suggest that individuals with higher attention-to-detail traits demonstrate reduced global interference, allowing better focus on local information, which facilitates superior mental rotation performance.

Results suggest attention-to-detail characteristics may confer cognitive advantages in visual-spatial tasks. Understanding these processing mechanisms could inform strengths-based interventions and educational approaches that leverage detail-focused attention patterns in autism spectrum conditions.

Study conducted only in neurotypical adults with autistic-like traits, limiting generalizability to autistic individuals. Cross-sectional design prevents causal inferences. Sample characteristics and demographics not fully reported in abstract.

Inconsistent data are available on mental rotation performance in neurotypicals with high autistic-like traits. Here, we tested whether global-local visual processing abilities mediate the influence of specific autistic-like trait domains (social skill, attention switching, attention-to-detail, communication, and imagination) on mental rotation. Neurotypical participants (N = 128) underwent an assessment of autistic-like traits, a flanker task with hierarchical stimuli, and a mental rotation task. Path analysis showed that Reaction Times on the incongruent/local condition of the flanker task mediated the relationship between attention-to-detail and mental rotation accuracy.

These findings indicate that a better capacity of ignoring incongruent global information to identify local information (reduced global interference) in persons with high non-social autistic-like traits, as attention-to-detail, facilitates mental rotation performance.