LE3 .A278 2022

2022

Brodeur, Darlene

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Psychology

Psychology

The present study examined whether attachment styles and traits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) moderate holistic processing of face and non-face objects. The literature reveals greater levels of face and object holistic processing are associated with greater experience (e.g., Bukach et al., 2010). However, lower levels of holistic processing have been reported in persons with ASD for both faces and objects (e.g., Dawson et al., 2005), and these effects have been associated with variations in attention styles related to attachment (e.g., Dykas & Cassidy, 2011). We hypothesized that holistic processing of faces and objects may be predicted by levels of autism traits and that attachment styles would moderate this relationship. A sample of 158 undergraduate participants completed the Vanderbilt Holistic Processing Test for Faces (VHPT-F; Richler et al., 2014) and the Vanderbilt Holistic Processing Test for Novel Objects (VHPT-NO; Chua & Gauthier, 2020a) to measure individual differences in holistic processing. Social Measures included the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) to measure autism traits and the Experiences in Close Relationships-Short Form (ECR- SF; Wei et al., 2007) to evaluate adult attachment style. Holistic processing was associated with attachment styles and autism traits, but only for objects. These results of this study were consistent with the expertise hypothesis of holistic processing (e.g., Diamond & Carey, 1986), and the argument that individual differences in characteristics are related to holistic processing (e.g., Gauthier, 2020), but these findings were only observed for objects and not for faces.

The author retains copyright in this thesis. Any substantial copying or any other actions that exceed fair dealing or other exceptions in the Copyright Act require the permission of the author.

https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3768