Brief Report: Local–Global Processing and Co-occurrence of Anxiety, Autistic and Obsessive–Compulsive Traits in a Non-clinical Sample

Purpose: Increased local-to-global interference has been found in those with ASD, AD and OCD, and as such, may represent a transdiagnostic marker. As a first step to investigating this, we aimed to assess the overlap in traits of these disorders in a non-clinical sample, and whether local–global processing relates to the traits of the three conditions. 

Methods: Participants (n = 149) completed questionnaires including the Autism Quotient (AQ), the Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory (OCI-R) and the Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and an online version of the Navon task. Behavioural metrics of interference and precedence were extracted from the task and correlated with trait scores. 

Results: We found moderate to strong correlations between the total scores for ASD, anxiety and OCD. Most local–global processing indices did not relate to traits. 

Conclusion: The study found evidence for an overlap in autism, anxiety and obsessive–compulsive traits in a non-clinical sample. However, local–global processing, as measured by the Navon task, did not appear to underpin symptomatology in the sample and could not be considered a transdiagnostic marker. Future research should investigate the value of alternate metrics.