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

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

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

Conditions
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Autism Spectrum Disorders, Schizophrenia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Neuropsychological evaluation


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 7 Years
Maximum Age: 55 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| A1<br>Patients with schizophrenia | Other: Neuropsychological evaluation<br>* Study one: global/local processing, with a neutral prime (stimulus influencing the processing of the subsequent stimulus)Study two: global/ local processing with a prime whose elements are collinear.Study three: global/local processing with a prime whose elements are not collinear<br>* Other names: Each study will be conducted successively in each group (A1/ A2, B1/B2, C1/C2).;|
| A2<br>Control subjects matched individually with patients with schizophrenia | Other: Neuropsychological evaluation<br>* Study one: global/local processing, with a neutral prime (stimulus influencing the processing of the subsequent stimulus)Study two: global/ local processing with a prime whose elements are collinear.Study three: global/local processing with a prime whose elements are not collinear<br>* Other names: Each study will be conducted successively in each group (A1/ A2, B1/B2, C1/C2).;|
| B1<br>Adult subjects with autism | Other: Neuropsychological evaluation<br>* Study one: global/local processing, with a neutral prime (stimulus influencing the processing of the subsequent stimulus)Study two: global/ local processing with a prime whose elements are collinear.Study three: global/local processing with a prime whose elements are not collinear<br>* Other names: Each study will be conducted successively in each group (A1/ A2, B1/B2, C1/C2).;|
| B2<br>Control subjects matched individually with adult subjects with autism | Other: Neuropsychological evaluation<br>* Study one: global/local processing, with a neutral prime (stimulus influencing the processing of the subsequent stimulus)Study two: global/ local processing with a prime whose elements are collinear.Study three: global/local processing with a prime whose elements are not collinear<br>* Other names: Each study will be conducted successively in each group (A1/ A2, B1/B2, C1/C2).;|
| C1<br>Children with autism | Other: Neuropsychological evaluation<br>* Study one: global/local processing, with a neutral prime (stimulus influencing the processing of the subsequent stimulus)Study two: global/ local processing with a prime whose elements are collinear.Study three: global/local processing with a prime whose elements are not collinear<br>* Other names: Each study will be conducted successively in each group (A1/ A2, B1/B2, C1/C2).;|
| C2<br>Control subjects matched individually with children with autism | Other: Neuropsychological evaluation<br>* Study one: global/local processing, with a neutral prime (stimulus influencing the processing of the subsequent stimulus)Study two: global/ local processing with a prime whose elements are collinear.Study three: global/local processing with a prime whose elements are not collinear<br>* Other names: Each study will be conducted successively in each group (A1/ A2, B1/B2, C1/C2).;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Visual perception, Local/global processing, Attention, Visual priming, Collinearity, Grouping