A study of intellectual abilities in high-functioning people with autism

Lincoln, Alan J.; Courchesne, Eric; Kilman, Beverly A.; Elmasian, R.; Allen, Mark

doi:10.1007/bf02211870

Cited by 172 publications

(110 citation statements)

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Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second three-factor model (M 3D ) is the same as M 3 with the exception that Digit Symbol/Coding was specified as a doublet, loading on both the PO and FFD factors. The final three-factor model was based on the finding reported by Lincoln et al (1988), of a VC, PO and a third factor which was composed of the Picture Arrangement and Picture Completion subtests and could be characterized as a "social intelligence" factor.Additionally, given the consistent findings of an FFD factor in both clinical and nonclinical populations, along with the unique Wechsler subtest profile and factor structure in autism, two different four-factor models were also evaluated in order to evaluate the possibility of a factor unique to autism. In both of them, the VC, PO, and FFD factors were retained, but in the first model Picture Arrangement and Picture Completion were specified to load on a fourth factor, thereby evaluating the "social" factor identified by Lincoln et al (1998) using principal components analysis.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Because M 3 is the more parsimonious of the two models, it is considered the better of the two. An exception to this was the three-factor model that was based on the work of Lincoln et al (1988), and suggested a "social intelligence" factor composed of the Picture Arrangement and Picture Completion subtests (M 3SI ). This model provided a relatively poor fit for the data, producing fit indexes that were comparable to the two-factor model, and much poorer than the other three-factor models.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Such an occurrence would bespeak a different organization of cognitive processing or intelligence from what is found in normal individuals. And in fact, in a study done some time ago with a small sample (n = 33), it was found that individuals with autism had a different factor structure on the Wechsler scales from normal controls suggesting the possibility of a "social intelligence" factor (Lincoln, Courchesne, Kilman, Elmasian, & Allen, 1988). Using principal components the investigators identified three factors in their autism sample.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The structure of intelligence in children and adults with high functioning autism.

et al. 2008

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Confirmatory factor analyses of the traditional 11 subtests of the Wechsler child and adult intelligence scales were accomplished for 137 children and 118 adults with high functioning autism (HFA) and for comparable age groups from the standardization samples contained in the Wechsler manuals. The objective was determining whether HFA groups produced similar best fitting models to those found in the normative samples or formed a separate "social intelligence" factor. Four-factor models incorporating a "social intelligence" factor provided the best fit in both the autism and normative, but the subtest intercorrelations were generally lower in the autism samples. Findings were interpreted in terms of underconnectivity or reduced communication among brain regions in autism.The Wechsler intelligence scales (Wechsler, 1974;1981;1991) have had widespread application in the assessment of children and adults with autism. Aside from the traditional role of these procedures in educational, vocational, and clinical diagnostic applications, they have been used in autism research to separate high functioning from low functioning autism, for differential diagnostic purposes within the autism spectrum and, perhaps most significantly, for delineating the pattern of cognitive function in autism. The Wechsler contains 11 or more subtests depending upon the version used, making it possible to obtain a cognitive profile of diverse abilities in addition to the Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQ scores. A profile apparently unique to high functioning autism has been identified in numerous studies, characterized by relatively high scores on the Block Design subtest and relatively low scores on Comprehension (Rumsey, 1992;Siegel, Minshew & Goldstein, 1996;Yirmiya & Sigman, 1991 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript subtest scores in autism conducted since 1965since , Siegel et al. (1996 observed that all fourteen reported the Block Design subtest to be the highest Performance subtest, while Comprehension was the lowest Verbal subtest in thirteen of the studies. The consistency of these findings across studies is quite remarkable, given the differences in data analytic and research design methodologies across studies and sites, as well as the various versions of the Wechsler scales used. The Block Design subtest was of particular interest because, often enough, it was not only normal but in the superior range, suggesting the presence of an exceptional spatial constructional ability in some individuals with high functioning autism.In addition to the subtest profile and IQ scores, the Wechsler scales have been repeatedly factor analyzed in both normal and clinical populations. Exploratory factor analysis has generally demonstrated that when the 11 subtest versions of these scales are studied, a threefactor solution is consistently found. More recent applications of factor analysis have employed confirmatory approaches, made possible by advances in structural equation modeling (Jorskog, 197...

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Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The structure of intelligence in children and adults with high functioning autism.

et al. 2008

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“…The verbal and performance subscales (vocabulary, comprehension, block design, and object assembly) represent relative strengths (block design and object assembly) and weaknesses (vocabulary and comprehension) in the autism cognitive profile (Dawson, 1983;Lincoln et al, 1988Lincoln et al, , 1995. Autism subjects had significantly lower scores than control subjects on all IQ measures ( p Ͻ 0.05 for all) and lower scores than cerebellar lesion patients on overall verbal IQ (V IQ), performance IQ (PIQ), and on the verbal subscales ( p Ͻ 0.05 for all).…”

Section: Iq Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Attention Deficits in Patients with Acquired or Developmental Cerebellar Abnormality

et al. 1999

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Recent imaging and clinical studies have challenged the concept that the functional role of the cerebellum is exclusively in the motor domain. We present evidence of slowed covert orienting of visuospatial attention in patients with developmental cerebellar abnormality (patients with autism, a disorder in which at least 90% of all postmortem cases reported to date have Purkinje neuron loss), and in patients with cerebellar damage acquired from tumor or stroke. In spatial cuing tasks, normal control subjects across a wide age range were able to orient attention within 100 msec of an attention-directing cue. Patients with cerebellar damage showed little evidence of having oriented attention after 100 msec but did show the effects of attention orienting after 800-1200 msec. These effects were demonstrated in a task in which results were independent of the motor response. In this task, smaller cerebellar vermal lobules VI-VII (from magnetic resonance imaging) were associated with greater attention-orienting deficits.Although eye movements may also be disrupted in patients with cerebellar damage, abnormal gaze shifting cannot explain the timing and nature of the attention-orienting deficits reported here. These data may be consistent with evidence from animal models that suggest damage to the cerebellum disrupts both the spatial encoding of a location for an attentional shift and the subsequent gaze shift. These data are also consistent with a model of cerebellar function in which the cerebellum supports a broad spectrum of brain systems involved in both nonmotor and motor function.

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