The development of perceptual expertise for faces and objects in autism spectrum conditions.

Damiano et al. (2011) asked adults with autism to learn a made-up set of objects called Greebles. The team wanted to know if these adults could reach expert-level skill, just like typical adults do.

They used a short training program in a lab. After training, they flipped the Greebles upside-down. Experts usually slow down on upside-down objects, so the flip test shows real learning.

Both groups became Greeble experts. Adults with autism showed the same upside-down slow-down as typical adults. This means their basic perceptual learning engine works fine.

The study found positive results for non-face objects, hinting that face-specific interventions might still work.

Hartston et al. (2023) seems to disagree. They found weaker face-inversion effects in the same adult autism group. The gap is about stimulus type: Greebles are objects, not faces. Faces carry heavy social weight, so the brain may treat them differently.

Gastgeb et al. (2011) backs this split. In the same year, they showed these adults struggle to form average face templates, yet Cara shows they can master object templates. Together, the papers say: learning tools are intact, but faces need extra help.

Arkush et al. (2013) adds age to the story. They saw face-memory deficits in teens with autism, while Cara saw intact learning in adults. The contrast suggests problems may fade with age, or that teens still need more practice.

You can trust that adults with autism can build new visual expertise. Use this hope when you teach job tasks that rely on part-whole spotting, like quality control or instrument reading. For social skills, do not assume the same ease. Add extra steps: label key facial parts, give repeated varied examples, and check inversion-style tests to confirm learning.