Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Thesis (Ph.D.)
Department or Program
Psychological & Brain Sciences
First Advisor
Caroline Robertson
Abstract
The perceptual style of individuals with autism is often characterized by a greater emphasis on local features over global structure. Although this perceptual bias is behaviorally well-documented, its neural basis remains poorly understood. Current dissertation investigates whether these perceptual differences reflect alterations in the organization of visual system and how it integrates information across space. To test this hypothesis, Aim 1 first establishes a common cortical map by localizing category-selective high-level regions in individual participants. These regions then provide a testbed for probing the retinotopic properties of the high-level visual cortex across diagnosis. In Aim 2, I quantify population receptive field (pRF) properties to index spatial integration across the visual hierarchy and characterize visual-field coverage biases to determine how representations are distributed within these regions. To bridge the gap between neural architecture and phenotypic expression, the final aim examines whether variation in these neural indices tracks with psychometric symptom variability. The results from this dissertation suggest that perceptual styles in adults with autism may be tied to shifts in how information is pooled and sampled across the visual field. By identifying differences in hierarchical spatial integration and coverage, this work links retinotopic organization in the visual system to individual symptom expression and identifies a potential mechanistic substrate for the long standing global-local bias observed in individuals with autism.
Recommended Citation
Choi, Yeo Bi, "From Trees to Forest: Mapping Population Receptive Field Organization Across the Visual Hierarchy in Individuals with and without Autism" (2026). Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations. 511.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/dissertations/511
