Cognitive flexibility (CF) is the ability to shift between concepts or rules. Difficulty with CF is associated with autism (i.e., ASD) as it contributes to repetitive behaviours. However, little is known about CF skills of autistic adolescents with low intelligence. This study uses the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) to assess the CF of 36…

This study analyzes the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-Learning Potential (WCST-LP) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) versus children with typical development (TD). Its main aim was to assess: the test's construct validity; the effect of IQ on its pretest and LP scores; and whether the WCST-LP held any relationship to cognitive/EF and…

Dual Process Theory has recently been applied to Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to suggest that reasoning by people with ASD and people with higher levels of ASD-like traits can be characterised by reduced intuitive and greater reflective processing. 26 adolescents and adults with ASD and 22 adolescent and adult controls completed an assessment of…

We conducted a meta-analysis of 31 studies, spanning 30 years, utilizing the WCST in participants with autism. We calculated Cohen's d effect sizes for four measures of performance: sets completed, perseveration, failure-to-maintain-set, and non-perseverative errors. The average weighted effect size ranged from 0.30 to 0.74 for each measure, all…

The aim of this study was to identify specific cognitive abilities that predict functional outcome in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to clarify the contribution of those abilities and their relationships. In total, 41 adults with ASD performed cognitive tasks in a broad range of neuro- and social cognitive…

To investigate the relationship between cognitive and social functioning, 20 Israeli individuals with HFASD aged 8-12 and 22 age, maternal education, and receptive vocabulary-matched preadolescents with typical development (TYP) came to the lab with a close friend. Measures of abstract reasoning, friendship quality, and dyadic interaction during a…

The ability of some individuals with mental retardation to identify prime numbers despite their lack of necessary arithmetical skills is discussed. The article suggests that a distinction between prime and nonprime numbers can be made by utilizing the tendency of visual perception to be symmetrically organized. (Author/DB)

Three questions regarding the use of sign language as an alternative communication system for nonverbal autistic children are examined. Data on effects on speech, the upper limits of sign acquisition, and effects on adaptive function are discussed. (Author/CL)

Twelve students with autism and 12 with mental retardation, who had passed a first-order test of false belief, were given a second-order reasoning task. No intergroup performance differences were seen. Findings suggest that the difficulty for both groups with the second-order task lies in information processing demands rather than conceptual…

Comparison of area and subtest scores on the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale (Fourth Edition) for 15 autistic retarded children and 15 nonautistic retarded children found that the children with autism scored substantially lower in the verbal reasoning area and on the subtests of Comprehension and Absurdities than did the nonautistic children.…

Twenty-one autistic and 21 nonautistic retarded adolescents and young adults were compared on British Picture Vocabulary Scale items considered emotion-related or highly abstract. Autistic subjects' lower scores on emotion-related items suggest autism-specific impairments in grasping these concepts. No differences were found for abstract/concrete…

This study examined the relationship between adaptive functioning and intellectual functioning in 18 children with autism and mental retardation and 20 children with mental retardation. The children with autism showed significantly more impairment in adaptive behavior composite scores, verbal reasoning abilities, socialization skills, and…