Visual Perception and IQ
An autism-typical strength in perceptual
reasoning (Dawson et al., 2007)
especially applies to
A-SOD
(Nader, Jelenic, & Soulières, 2015; Soulières et al., 2011) and
autistics with lower verbal comprehension
(Nader et al., 2015; Soulières et
al., 2011; Bölte, Dziobek & Poustka, 2009). IQ tests like the Weschler
heavily require language and prior learning. The Raven’s Progressive
Matrices IQ test, however, only uses problem-solving with visual
geometric designs. A-NoSOD (Hayashi et al., 2008) and particularly A-SOD
(Nader et al., 2015; Soulières et al., 2011) have earned Raven’s scores
that match their Weschler peak performance, and that outperform
non-autistic peers with comparable Weschler scores (Chen, Planche, &
Lemonnier, 2010). Compared with typical adults, A-SOD
have faster visual-spatial (Sahyoun et al., 2009) and general processing
speed (Barbeau et al., 2013), whereas A-NoSOD have the slowest
processing speed (Bucaille et al., 2016). Therefore, IQ tests that
emphasize verbal abilities and deemphasize visual-spatial skills may
underestimate autistic people’s intelligence, particularly A-SOD,
necessitating strength-informed and flexible testing (see
Recommendations: IQ).