Objective: This systematic review examines the proficiency and visual search strategies of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) while disembedding figures and whether they differ from typical controls and other comparative samples.
Methods: Five databases, including Proquest, Psychinfo, Medline, CINAHL and Science Direct were used to identify published studies meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: Twenty articles were included in the review, the majority of which matched participants by mental age. Outcomes discussed were time taken to identify targets, the number correctly identified, and fixation frequency and duration.
Conclusions: Individuals with ASD perform at the same speed or faster than controls and other clinical samples. However, there appear to be no differences between individuals with ASD and controls for number of correctly identified targets. Only one study examined visual search strategies and suggests that individuals with ASD exhibit shorter first and final fixations to targets compared with controls.
Keywords: Autism; autism spectrum disorder; disembedding; embedded figures; local-processing bias; weak central coherence.