J Autism Dev Disord (2007) 37:1355–1360
DOI 10.1007/s10803-006-0283-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Beyond Perception: Musical Representation and On-line
Processing in Autism
Pamela Heaton Æ Kerry Williams Æ Omar Cummins Æ
Francesca G. E. Happé
Published online: 5 December 2006

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006
Abstract 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 mat-
ched controls, completed a musical priming task in
which global and local musical contexts were manipu-
lated. The results from the study revealed no between-
group differences and showed that both global and
local musical contexts influenced participants’ congru-
ity judgements. The findings were interpreted within
the context of studies showing weakened sensitivity to
verbal/semantic information in autism.
Keywords Autism Æ Music cognition Æ Local and
global processing
Introduction
In addition to the communicative and social abnormal-
ities that are diagnostic criteria for autism, co-occuring
intellectual impairment is found in ~75% of diagnosed
P. Heaton (&) Æ K. Williams Æ O. Cummins
Goldsmiths College, University of London,
New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK
e-mail: P.Heaton@gold.ac.uk
F. G. E. Happé
Institute of Psychiatry, University of London,
New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK
individuals. However, global IQ measures often disguise
a complex and uneven pattern of intellectual capacities,
and cognitive deficits may co-exist alongside spared or
even enhanced abilities within specific domains. One
domain in which enhanced abilities have been reported
in autism is music (Southall, 1979, 1983; Sloboda,
Hermelin, & O’Connor, 1985; Treffert, 1989; Young &
Nettlebeck, 1995; Mottron, Peretz, Belleville, &
Rouleau, 1999; Hermelin, 2001). Indeed in Kanner’s
(1943) first account of autism he described exceptional
musical memory abilities in several of the reported
cases. One child, for example, was reported to be able to
discriminate between 18 symphonies at the age of one
and a half years.
Experimental investigations comparing participants
with autism, and matched controls, on tasks of musical
perception have revealed interesting differences. For
example, several studies have shown that pitch mem-
ory and discrimination is superior in autism (Apple-
baum, Egel, Koegel, & Imhof, 1979; Heaton,
Hermelin, & Pring, 1998; Heaton, Pring, & Hermelin,
1999; Mottron, Peretz, & Menard, 2000; Bonnel et al.,
2003; Heaton, 2003). Findings from studies in which
autism/control group differences have failed to emerge
have been interpreted as providing evidence for spared
holistic or global musical processing. For example,
Heaton (2003) showed holistic processing of musical
chords and Mottron et al. (2000) obtained similar
findings with transposed musical contours. Only one
study to date has provided evidence suggesting that
deficits in musical cognition might characterise autism
(Foxton et al., 2003). In this study, the effects of pitch
and timing interference on pitch change judgements
were tested in a group of able adults with autism and
matched controls. The findings from the study showed
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that normal controls scored highest in no-interference
conditions, with performance declining as the number
of interfering features increased. In contrast, partici-
pants with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) showed
no significant decreases in performance in interference
conditions. The authors suggested that their partici-
pants with ASD were not susceptible to interference
from an auditory coherent whole, and the findings were
interpreted as providing evidence for a global pro-
cessing deficit in autism. Interestingly, when these
same participants completed the musical contour task
(see Heaton et al., 1999; Mottron et al., 2000; Heaton,
2005), their performance was indistinguishable from
that of controls. Although the contour task has been
widely used as a measure of musical global processing,
it simply requires participants to make same/different
judgements about short strings of single tones. In
contrast, the task by Foxton et al., tests the extent that
music perception is characterised by a tendency to
integrate different musical components on line. Whilst
this paradigm better reflects the complex demands of
music perception than the contour paradigm, problems
of ecological validity persist and it remains unclear
whether the autistic participants’ tendency to disregard
distracting musical information in order to remain ‘‘on
task’’ necessarily reflects impoverished processing of
real music.
The suggestion that autism is characterised by
deficits in global processing was first made by Frith
(1989). In her early account of the weak central
coherence theory of autism (WCC) she described a
weakened tendency to integrate information in con-
text in order to extract global meaning. This tendency
is proposed to result in a detail or feature biased
cognitive style that influences information processing
at perceptual, visuospatial-constructional and verbal-
semantic levels (Happé, 1999). Evidence for WCC at
the verbal-semantic level has been provided by stud-
ies showing that individuals with autism are less likely
to capitalise on verbal contextual information when
disambiguating homographs than matched controls
(Frith & Snowling, 1983; Snowling & Frith, 1986;
Happé, 1997). In the study by Happé (1997) controls
were more likely to pronounce homographs occurring
late in sentences correctly, whilst this tendency was
significantly weaker in participants with autism. A
recent study (Happé & Booth, in preparation) further
tested the hypothesis that sentence context would be
less salient in autism and would result in increased
levels of ‘‘local’’ as opposed to ‘‘global’’ sentence
completions. The findings from the study supported
the experimental hypothesis in showing that whilst
typically developing controls might provide the word
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‘‘seaweed’’ as an ending for the sentence ‘‘the sea
tastes of salt and...’’ participants with autism were
significantly more likely to provide ‘‘local’’ endings
such as ‘‘pepper’’ or ‘‘vinegar’’.
Whilst language differs from music in significant
ways, the validity of drawing a parallel between them
is reinforced by findings from scanning studies
showing overlapping neural processing in response to
music and language stimuli (Patel, Gibson, Ratner,
Besson, & Holcombe, 1998; Maess, Koelsch, Gunter,
& Friederici, 2001; Koelsch et al., 2002; Patel, 2003;
Tillmann, Janata, & Bharucha, 2003). Music and
language are both processed sequentially, and prim-
ing effects, tested linguistically in the Happé and
Booth study, have also been observed in music. For
example, experimental studies into single or local
chord priming, (Bharucha & Stoeckig, 1986, 1987;
Tekman & Bharucha, 1992, 1998), have shown that
correct intonation judgements are more likely to be
made about target chords that are related to primed
chords than those that are unrelated to them. Studies
in which targets were primed with extended
sequences of chords, have identified powerful effects
(Schmuckler & Boltz, 1994; Janata, 1995) and in one
study, Bigand, Madurell, Tillmann, and Pineau (1999)
showed that musical expectancies are influenced by
the local and global levels of the musical structure
simultaneously. Thus, priming was strongest when
both locally and globally related chords and
sequences provided the context against which the
target was judged.
A further reason for drawing a parallel between
language and music is that enculturation processes
influence language and music acquisition in similar
ways (Justus & Bharucha, 2001). Thus, individuals
acquire and learn to manipulate the complex struc-
tures inherent in the languages and musics to which
they are exposed early in development and without
formal teaching. Evidence for a passive exposure/self
organisation account of musical knowledge acquisi-
tion has been provided by studies showing that
awareness of musical structure can be independent of
musical expertise (Bharucha & Stoeckig, 1986, 1987;
Bharucha, 1994; Bigand & Pineau, 1997). For exam-
ple, in one study (Tillmann, Bigand, & Pineau, 1998)
participants with no musical training were as sensitive
to changes in harmonic structures embedded in chord
sequences as music graduates.
The current study addressed two main research
questions. First, do individuals with autism acquire the
rules that govern perception of musical harmony?
Findings from experiments showing good musical
improvisation in savants with autism (Hermelin,
J Autism Dev Disord (2007) 37:1355–1360 1357

O’Connor, & Lee, 1987; Hermelin, O’Connor, Lee, & Stimuli and Procedure
Treffert, 1989) provide clear evidence for extensive
domain specific knowledge in these individuals. Following on from Tillmann et al. (1998), the task
However, musical savants clearly possess special included four experimental conditions. Stimuli in all
abilities within the domain, and the extent that the conditions were seven chord sequences followed by a
capacity to acquire and represent musical structures target chord (chord 8) that was related to the preceding
will be spared in the wider autism population has harmonic context at both local and global levels
not been investigated. The second question to be (condition one: GRLR); at the global level only (con-
addressed is whether a local processing bias, outlined dition two: GRLU); at the local level only (condition
in the WCC theory (Frith, 1989; Happé, 1999) will three: GULR); or at neither local or global levels
characterise information processing within the musical (condition four: GULU). Chord sequences were gen-
domain. Whilst experimental investigations into the erated in piano voicing, in all keys and sounded like
perceptual processing mechanisms underpinning hymns. Examples of stimuli used in the experiment are
musical cognition have largely failed to identify defi- shown in Fig. 1. As deficits in sequential processing
cits in autism (e.g. Mottron et al., 2000; Heaton, have been noted in autism (e.g. Allen, Lincoln, &
2003), few studies have investigated higher-level Kaufman, 1991) the question of how the manipulation
musical processing. Therefore, in the following study, of temporal variables might differentially influence
individuals with autism, together with age and intel- musical processing in autism was of interest. Therefore
ligence matched controls, participated in a study that chord sequences were presented at slow and moderate
investigated the extent that global and local harmonic tempi. The stimuli were randomised across conditions
contexts shape musical expectancies. and were recorded onto DAT 15/20’ tapes. The
experimental task was to judge whether the final target
chord sounded correct or incorrect. Thus subjects were
told ‘‘listen to this music and tell me if the ending
Methods
sounds right’’. Conditions 1 and 4 differed from con-
ditions 2 and 3 in that the target was unambiguously
Participants
correct (condition 1) or incorrect (condition 4). As this
paradigm has previously been tested with normal
Twenty participants with autism were recruited from
adults, and the current participant sample included
specialist provisions for children with ASD. Entry to
children and adolescents with autism and intellectual
these specialist schools requires formal diagnosis
according to standard clinical criteria (DSM-IV)
(American Psychiatric Association, 1994). These
participants were aged between 7 and 19 years
(Mean: 12 years, 6 months), and their scores on the
Raven’s Matrices (Raven, Court, & Raven, 1988)
ranged between 55 and 125 (Mean: 92). Three par-
ticipants from the autism group and three partici-
pants from the control group were moderately
intellectually impaired (IQ < 70). The control group
included 20 children, 17 of whom were recruited from
mainstream state schools. The remaining three were
recruited from a specialist provision for children with
moderate learning difficulties. The controls’ chrono-
logical ages ranged between 9 years 6 months and
15 years 9 months (Mean: 11 years 6 months) and
their scores on the Raven’s Matrices ranged between
67 and 131 (Mean: 87). Participants were screened to
ensure that none had undergone extended periods of
individual voice or instrumental lessons or taken
specialist grade examinations in music. All partici-
pants attended schools where class music lessons
were provided. Fig. 1 Examples of stimuli used in the experiment

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1358 J Autism Dev Disord (2007) 37:1355–1360

impairment, data on the crucial open-ended conditions

stimuli judged to be correct

3
(2 and 3) could only be judged reliable if it was Fast
2.5
established that the task was fully understood. There- Slow
2
fore participants were only included in the study if they
were able to correctly label 8 of 12 unambiguous 1.5
stimuli (four each from conditions 1 and 4). 1

0.5

Results 0
GRLR GRLU GULR GULU
condition
Means and standard deviations for targets judged to
Fig. 3 Music type by presentation speed interaction
sound correct, across the four experimental conditions,
are shown in Table 1. The main effect of music type was analysed using
An analysis of variance with group (autism/controls) t-tests. These showed that GRLR targets were signifi-
as the between group factor and presentation speed cantly more likely to be judged to be correct than
(fast/slow) and music type (GRLR, GRLU, GULR, GRLU targets (t(39) = 3.36, p < 0.002), that GRLU
GULU) as within group factors was carried out on the targets were significantly more likely to be judged to be
data. The analysis failed to reveal a significant effect of correct that GULR targets (t(39) = –3.77, p < 0.001)
group (F(1,38) = 3.03), of group by music type and that GULR targets were significantly more likely
(F(3,114) = 1.28), or of group by presentation speed to be judged to be correct than GULU targets
(F(1,38) = 1.56). Although there was no significant (t(39) = –8.09, p < 0.001). The analysis also showed a
main effect of presentation speed (F(1,38) = 0.17), significant music type by presentation speed interac-
there was a highly significant main effect of music type tion (F(3) = 3.43, p < 0.02), which is shown in Fig. 3.
(F(3,114) = 93.92, p < 0.001), which is shown in Fig. 2 The interaction was analysed using t-tests. These
showed that targets related at global levels only
Table 1 Means and standard deviations for targets judged to be (GRLU) were significantly more likely to be judged
harmonically congruent correct at slow rather than fast presentation speeds
Group GRLR GRLU GULR GULU (t(39) = 2.19, p < 0.03). There was no significant dif-
mean (SD) mean (SD) mean (SD) mean (SD) ference across speeds for the three remaining condi-
tions; GRLR (t(39) = 0.95); GULR (t(39) = 0.61);
Autism
(n = 20)
GULU (t(39) = 1.83).
Total 5 (1.12) 4.15 (1.56) 2.8 (1.43) 0.95 (1.05) As the range of IQ and age scores in the participant
(Max = 6) group was large (IQ = 55–131; age = 7–19 years) cor-
Fast 2.55 (.60) 1.8 (1.0) 1.4 (.94) 0.65 (0.87) relations between these data and different experi-
Slow 2.45 (.82) 2.35 (.81) 1.4 (.82) 0.30 (0.57)
Controls
mental conditions were carried out. Pooled scores for
(n = 20) conditions 1 and 4 (unambiguous control stimuli) were
Total 5.2 (0.89) 4.5 (1.43) 3.8 (1.39) 1.0 (0.85) correlated with age and IQ data within groups. None of
(Max = 6) these reached significance (autism group: score and
Fast 2.7 (0.65) 2.15 (1.13) 2.0 (0.97) 0.60 (0.59)
Slow 2.5 (0.76) 2.35 (0.67) 1.8 (0.76) 0.40 (0.59)
age, r = 0.12; score and IQ, r = –0.04. control group:
score and age, r = 0.19; score and IQ, r = 0.04),
showing that neither variable influenced performance
on the task. Of the correlations carried out on the
6
stimuli judged to be correct

open-ended stimuli (conditions 2 and 3) only the aut-

5 ism age · GULR condition was statistically significant
4 (r = –0.47, p < 0.04) showing that within the autism
group the younger children were more likely to judge
3
targets related at the local level only to be correct.
2

1 Discussion
0
GRLR GRLU GULR GULU
The most striking finding from the study was that there
Fig. 2 Main effect of music type was no significant difference in patterns of performance

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between the participants with autism and their con-
trols. All participants were most likely to judge the
target tones as correct when they were related to the
harmonic context at both global and local levels
(GRLR), confirming the influence of both structural
levels on perception (Tillmann et al., 1998). The com-
parison of conditions where the target was only related
at one level (GRLU and GULR) showed that the
global level influenced perception more powerfully
than the local level, especially with slow presentation.
However, local contexts (GULR) did exert some effect
as these stimuli were significantly more likely to be
judged to be correct than the targets presented without
any related context (GULU).
One aim of the current study was to investigate
information processing biases in autism within the
musical domain. As experimental studies have shown
WCC at the verbal-semantic level in autism (Frith &
Snowling, 1983; Snowling & Frith, 1986; Happe, 1997),
and neuroimaging studies have shown that music and
language share neural resources (e.g. Patel et al., 1998;
Maess et al., 2001; Koeslch et al., 2002; Tillmann et al.,
2003), deficits on the music task may well have been
predicted for the autism group. However, Patel (2003)
has proposed that these overlapping neural processes
relate specifically to syntactical processing and some
studies have found that syntax and grammar is rela-
tively unimpaired in autism. For example, Minshew,
Goldstein, and Siegel (1995) studied a large sample of
participants with ASD and found a dissociation
between mechanical and interpretative language abil-
ities, with normal profiles in the former relative to
controls. Thus, whilst language abnormalities are
characteristic in autism, semantic and pragmatic com-
ponents, relating to the social and communicative dis-
abilities central to the disorder, are more affected than
syntactic components. This helps explain how individ-
uals with autism are able to perform well on a musical
priming task whilst performing poorly on linguistic
priming tasks that rely on unimpaired semantic pro-
cessing.
Since the time of Kanner (1943) preserved or
enhanced musical skills have been described in indi-
viduals with autism. Theoretical accounts of special
abilities in autism have frequently assumed that
enhanced perception is a highly significant factor in the
emergence of these skills (e.g. Waterhouse, 1988;
Treffert, 1989; Mottron & Burack, 2001) and a sub-
stantial body of empirical work has shown that the low
level auditory processes underpinning music percep-
tion are enhanced in some individuals with autism
(Heaton et al., 1998, 1999; Mottron et al., 2000; Bonnel
et al., 2003; Heaton, 2003). However, music cognition
1359
draws on a range of post-perceptual processes and is
powerfully shaped by domain specific knowledge ac-
quired early in development (Lynch & Eilers, 1992;
Trainor & Trehub, 1992). The results from the current
study, showing that musically untrained individuals
with autism, with and without concurrent intellectual
impairment, acquire and are influenced by this cate-
gory of domain specific knowledge, illustrate how
crucial the identification of spared cognitive mecha-
nisms is to our understanding of functioning within and
across domains in autism.
Acknowledgments This study was carried out with the support
of the Economic and Social Research Council (award reference
number R000223768). Grateful thanks to all schools and children
who participated in the studies and to Christopher Laing for
making the stimuli used in the experiment.
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