Dr Kate Plaisted-Grant University positionSenior Lecturer Dr Kate Plaisted-Grant is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students. DepartmentsInstitutesLaboratory for Research into Autism Home pagehttp://www.lara.psychol.cam.ac.uk (personal home page) Research ThemeInterestsMy research interest in autism was sparked by the fascinating cognitive strengths shown by many individuals with autism. These include exceptional abilities to process fine details, better discrimination abilities compared to typical individuals and an ability to show highly focussed attention. An important question is whether these cognitive strengths provide the key to understanding some of the difficulties for individuals with autism, such as social communication. More specifically, it raises the question of whether the differences in psychological mechanisms which result in exceptional abilities play a causal role in affecting the development of social information processing and language in autism. However, this question can only be tackled by first understanding the mechanisms which cause the cognitive strengths. My research interests currently focus on mechanisms of perception and attention that may be different in autism compared to typical individuals. Research Focus
EquipmentBehavioural analysis Neuropsychological testing Visual Psychophysics Collaborators
Associated News ItemsKey publicationsPlaisted KC, Dobler V, Bell S, Davis G (2006), “The microgenesis of global perception in autism” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 36(1):107-116 Greenaway R, Plaisted KC (2005), “Top down attentional modulation is stimulus specific” Psychological Science 16:987-994 Plaisted KC, Saksida LM, Alcantara J, Weisblatt E (2003), “Towards an understanding of the mechanisms of weak central coherence effects: Experiments in visual configural learning and auditory perception” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: B (Biological Sciences) 358(1430):375-386 Publications2013Greenaway R, Davis G, Plaisted-Grant K (2013), “Marked selective impairment in autism on an index of magnocellular function.” Neuropsychologia 51(4):592-600 Details Gregory BL, Plaisted-Grant KC (2013), “The Autism-Spectrum Quotient and Visual Search: Shallow and Deep Autistic Endophenotypes.” J Autism Dev Disord Details Maister L, Simons JS, Plaisted-Grant K (2013), “Executive functions are employed to process episodic and relational memories in children with autism spectrum disorders.” Neuropsychology 27(6):615-27 Details 2012Teufel C, von dem Hagen E, Plaisted-Grant KC, Edmonds JJ, Ayorinde JO, Fletcher PC, Davis G (2012), “What is social about social perception research?” Front Integr Neurosci 6:128 Details 2011Maister L, Plaisted-Grant KC (2011), “Time perception and its relationship to memory in Autism Spectrum Conditions.” Dev Sci 14(6):1311-22 Details 2009Plaisted Grant K, Davis G (2009), “Perception and apperception in autism: rejecting the inverse assumption.” Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 364(1522):1393-8 Details 2008Falter CM, Plaisted KC, Davis G (2008), “Male brains, androgen, and the cognitive profile in autism: convergent evidence from 2D:4D and congenital adrenal hyperplasia.” J Autism Dev Disord 38(5):997-8 Details Falter CM, Plaisted KC, Davis G (2008), “Visuo-spatial processing in autism--testing the predictions of extreme male brain theory.” J Autism Dev Disord 38(3):507-15 Details 2007Davis G, Plaisted K (2007), “Autism: not interested or not 'tuned-in'?” Curr Biol 17(19):R851-3 Details 2006Plaisted K, Dobler V, Bell S, Davis G (2006), “The microgenesis of global perception in autism.” J Autism Dev Disord 36(1):107-16 Details 2005Greenaway R, Plaisted K (2005), “Top-down attentional modulation in autistic spectrum disorders is stimulus-specific.” Psychol Sci 16(12):987-94 Details 2003Plaisted K, Saksida L, Alcántara J, Weisblatt E (2003), “Towards an understanding of the mechanisms of weak central coherence effects: experiments in visual configural learning and auditory perception.” Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 358(1430):375-86 Details 2002Milne E, Swettenham J, Hansen P, Campbell R, Jeffries H, Plaisted K (2002), “High motion coherence thresholds in children with autism.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 43(2):255-63 Details 2001O'Riordan M, Plaisted K (2001), “Enhanced discrimination in autism.” Q J Exp Psychol A 54(4):961-79 Details O'Riordan MA, Plaisted KC, Driver J, Baron-Cohen S (2001), “Superior visual search in autism.” J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 27(3):719-30 Details 1999Baron-Cohen S, O'Riordan M, Stone V, Jones R, Plaisted K (1999), “Recognition of faux pas by normally developing children and children with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.” J Autism Dev Disord 29(5):407-18 Details Plaisted K, Swettenham J, Rees L (1999), “Children with autism show local precedence in a divided attention task and global precedence in a selective attention task.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 40(5):733-42 Details 1998Plaisted K, O'Riordan M, Baron-Cohen S (1998), “Enhanced visual search for a conjunctive target in autism: a research note.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 39(5):777-83 Details 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.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 39(5):765-75 Details 1994McLaren IP, Bennett C, Plaisted K, Aitken M, Mackintosh NJ (1994), “Latent inhibition, context specificity, and context familiarity.” Q J Exp Psychol B 47(4):387-400 Details |