title: Disembedding performance in children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to assess the findings, reported in earlier studies, that individuals with autism spectrum disorders process visuo-spatial tasks faster than typically developing control persons. The participants in the present study were children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA) (N = 13), and a matched group of typically developing children and adolescents (N = 13). The results showed that the participants in the clinical group performed marginally less well than those in the control group on both the Block Design Test and the Embedded Figures Test, but the differences were not statistically significant. Thus, earlier findings suggesting that individuals with autism spectrum disorders solve non-social cognitive tasks faster than typically developing control persons were not replicated. The results are discussed with special reference to the hypothesis of weak central coherence.
authors.affiliation: Lillehammer University College, Faculty of Social Science, Norway. nils@kaland.net
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaland
authors.forename: Erik Lykke
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis