Eight autistic children and young adolescents (mean age 12.9 years) were compared to normal chronological age controls. Ss were required to discriminate briefly presented visual stimuli when they were preceded or followed by a visual noise mask and when they were not. The minimum stimulus exposure duration for criterion identification of unmasked letters, the critical stimulus duration, was determined first. Subsequently, Ss were required to identify the letters under conditions of forward and backward masking. Autistic Ss showed a slight deficiency in relation to equal chronological age normals in their ability to discriminate unmasked letters. When this deficiency was controlled for, however, they did not differ from the controls in the visual masking experiment. Results provided support for the notion of a discontinuity between the disorders of autism, mental retardation, and schizophrenia. (Author)