Children’s drawing style correlates with autistic traits.

Perception is a fertile field to investigate Autism Spectrum Disorder’s features. On the basis of Central Coherence Theory, we hypothesize that subjects with autistic traits present an unfocused detail-oriented cognitive style. Such a style would consist in paying attention to details distributed throughout the entire stimulus, rather than to its more salient aspects. We assume that this perceptual style can emerge also in children’s drawing. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between this peculiar style and autistic traits in 54 typically developing children aged 5 to 8 years. Participants were administered the Faux Pas Test (FPT), the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and an ad-hoc developed drawing. To evaluate the drawing, we created a detail-oriented style scale. Drawings’ scores appeared to be negatively correlated with FPT and RMET scores, indicating that detail-oriented style in drawing is related to a poorer cognitive and affective theory of mind. These findings are discussed in relation to the usefulness of drawing as a possible tool for the early identification of autistic traits.