SynthesisHuman brain mapping2012
Enhanced visual functioning in autism: an ALE meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Human brain mapping, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 148 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
148 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Association between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and vision problems. A systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analytic connectivity modelling of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in autism spectrum disorders.Brain imaging and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Word reading skills in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Anatomical likelihood estimation meta-analysis of grey and white matter anomalies in autism spectrum disorders.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2015Pooled it
- Meta-analytic evidence for a superordinate cognitive control network subserving diverse executive functions.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2012Pooled it
- Feature and motion-based gaze cuing is linked with reduced social competence.Scientific reports · 2017Trial
- From word reading to multisentence comprehension: Improvements in brain activity in children with autism after reading intervention.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2017Trial
- Typical versus delayed speech onset influences verbal reporting of autistic interests.Molecular autism · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Visual Responsivity in Autism: Measuring Visual Responses in Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults Using Psychophysics, fMRI, and EEG.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Autistic Trait Level and Reaction Time in Older Adults: The Influence of Sex and Task upon Study Outcome.Autism in adulthood · 2026Article
- Finding the forest in the trees: Using machine learning and online cognitive and perceptual measures to predict adult autism diagnosis.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Neuroimaging Evidence of Facial Emotion Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Semantic projection as a method to measure individual differences in semantic scale length: insights from autism-related traits.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Local and Global Visual Processing in Autism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Neuroimaging Studies.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Exploring Links Between Lexical Representations and Cognitive Skills in School-Aged Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Slow but Steady: Similarities and Differences in Executive Functioning Between Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Comparative Visual Perception Patterns in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Mild Intellectual Disability: A Cross-Sectional Study.Consortium psychiatricum · 2025Article
- Decoding the peripheral transcriptomic and meta-genomic response to music in autism spectrum disorder via saliva-based RNA sequencing.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Article
- Functional near-infrared spectroscopy characteristics in children with autism spectrum disorder under animated video modeling therapy.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
88 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Autistics often exhibit enhanced perceptual abilities when engaged in visual search, visual discrimination, and embedded figure detection. In similar fashion, while performing a range of perceptual or cognitive tasks, autistics display stronger physiological engagement of the visual system than do non-autistics. To account for these findings, the Enhanced Perceptual Functioning Model proposes that enhanced autistic performance in basic perceptual tasks results from stronger engagement of sensory processing mechanisms, a situation that may facilitate an atypically prominent role for perceptual mechanisms in supporting cognition. Using quantitative meta-analysis of published functional imaging studies from which Activation Likelihood Estimation maps were computed, we asked whether autism is associated with enhanced task-related activity for a broad range of visual tasks. To determine whether atypical engagement of visual processing is a general or domain-specific phenomenon, we examined three different visual processing domains: faces, objects, and words. Overall, we observed more activity in autistics compared to non-autistics in temporal, occipital, and parietal regions. In contrast, autistics exhibited less activity in frontal cortex. The spatial distribution of the observed differential between-group patterns varied across processing domains. Autism may be characterized by enhanced functional resource allocation in regions associated with visual processing and expertise. Atypical adult organizational patterns may reflect underlying differences in developmental neural plasticity that can result in aspects of the autistic phenotype, including enhanced visual skills, atypical face processing, and hyperlexia.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.