Beyond perception:: Musical representation and on-line processing in autism

Whilst findings from experimental studies suggest that perceptual mechanisms underpinning musical cognition are preserved or enhanced in autism, little is known about how higher-level, structural aspects of music are processed. Twenty participants with autism, together with age and intelligence matched controls, completed a musical priming task in which global and local musical contexts were manipulated. The results from the study revealed no between-group differences and showed that both global and local musical contexts influenced participants' congruity judgements. The findings were interpreted within the context of studies showing weakened sensitivity to verbal/semantic information in autism.