Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Utilitarian Attention

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • 32 Accesses

Definition

The term “utilitarian attention” is intended to describe a style displayed by persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) across various components of attentional processing. The term utilitarian, based on the root word utility, implies a functional significance as would be the case when attention occurs in ways and is guided by considerations that lead to its most efficient use. The implementation of the utilitarianism may be manifested in different ways such as the unique processing of stimuli and information that imparts meaning or guidance in a specific context or for a specific task, and by behavior that is driven by data or task requirements rather than general heuristics or information in the environment that may be of increased interest or relevance to others but incidental to the task at hand.

This notion of utilitarian attention represents an extension of earlier empirically based strength-oriented conceptualizations in the areas of visual search (O’Riordan et al.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References and Reading

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Stott, C., Bolton, P., & Goodyer, I. (1997). Is there a link between engineering and autism. Autism, 1, 101–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brodeur, D. A., Stewart, J., Dawkins, T., & Burack, J. A. (2018). Utilitarian attention by children with autism spectrum disorder on a filtering task. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48, 1419–1427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3619-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burack, J. A. (1994). Selective attention deficits in persons with autism: Preliminary evidence for an inefficient attentional lens. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 535–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burack, J. A., Russo, N., Kovshoff, H., Fernandes, T. P., Ringo, J., Landry, O., & Iarocci, G. (2016). How I attend – Not how well do I attend: Rethinking developmental frameworks of attention and cognition in autism spectrum disorder and typical development. Journal of Cognition and Development, 17, 553–567. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2016.1197226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burack, J. A., Jefferies, L. N., Ringo, J., & Landry, O. (2017). Attention. In B. Hopkins, E. Geangu, & S. Linkenauger (Eds.), The Cambridge encyclopedia of child development. New York: Cmbridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Del Bianco, T., Mazzoni, N., Bentenuto, A., & Venuti, P. (2018). An investigation of attention to faces and eyes: Looking time is task-dependent in autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02629/full.

  • Iarocci, G., Burack, J. A., Shore, D. I., Mottron, L., & Enns, J. T. (2006). Local-global visual processing in high-functioning children with autism: Structural vs. implicit task biases. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-005-0045-2.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York: H. Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joosten, A., Girdler, S., Albrecht, M. A., Horlin, C., Falkmer, M., Leung, D., Ordqvist, A., Fleischer, H., & Falkmer, T. (2016). Gaze and visual search strategies of children with Asperger syndrome/high functioning autism viewing a magic trick. Developmental Neurorehabilitation, 19, 95–102. https://doi.org/10.3109/17518423.2014.913081.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krauzlis, R. J., Bollimunta, A., Arcizet, F., & Wang, L. (2014). Attention as an effect not a cause. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18, 457–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mottron, L., & Burack, J. A. (2001). Enhanced perceptual functioning in the development of autism. In J. A. Burack, T. Charman, N. Yirmiya, & P. R. Zelazo (Eds.), The development of autism: Perspectives from theory and research (pp. 131–148). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mottron, L., Dawson, M., Soulieres, I., Hubert, B., & Burack, J. (2006). Enhanced perceptual functioning in autism: An update, and eight principles of autistic perception. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 27–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-005-0040-7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Riordan, M. A., Plaisted, K. C., Driver, J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2001). Superior visual search in autism. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 27, 719–730. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096–1523.27.3.719.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Riordan, M., & Plaisted, K. (2001). Enhanced discrimination in autism. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Section A, 54(4), 961–979.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pellicano, E., & Burr, D. (2012). When the world becomes “too real”: A Bayesian explanation of autistic perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 504–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.08.009.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plaisted, K., O’Riordan, M., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1998). Enhanced discrimination of novel, highly similar stimuli by adults with autism during a perceptual learning task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39(5), 765–775.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ristic, J., & Enns, J. T. (2015). The changing face of attentional development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(1), 24–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ristic, J., Mottron, L., Kelland Friesen, C., Iarocci, G., Burack, J. A., & Kingstone, A. (2005). Eyes are special but not for everyone: The case of autism. Cognitive Brian Research, 24, 715–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.02.007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russo, N., Mottron, L., Burack, J. A., & Jemel, B. (2012). Parameters of semantic multisensory integration depend on timing and modality order among people on the autism spectrum: Evidence from event-related potentials. Neuropsychologia, 50, 2131–2141.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheelwright, S., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1998). The link between autism and skills such as engineering, maths, physics and computing: A reply to Jarrold and Routh. Autism, 2, 281–2289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jacob A. Burack

  2. Department of Psychology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, Canada

    Darlene Brodeur

Authors
  1. Jacob A. Burack
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Darlene Brodeur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacob A. Burack .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Burack, J.A., Brodeur, D. (2020). Utilitarian Attention. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102313-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102313-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation