The level and nature of autistic intelligence III: Inspection time.

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Barbeau, É. B., Soulières, I., Dawson, M., Zeffiro, T. A., & Mottron, L. (2012). The level and nature of autistic intelligence III: Inspection time. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(1), 295-301. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029984

Publication date: 22 Oct 2012 Added to AutiHub: 3 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Élise B. Barbeau
  2. Isabelle Soulières
  3. Michelle Dawson *
  4. Thomas A. Zeffiro
  5. Laurent Mottron

Abstract

Across the autism spectrum, level of intelligence is highly dependent on the psychometric instrument used for assessment, and there are conflicting views concerning which measures best estimate autistic cognitive abilities. Inspection time is a processing speed measure associated with general intelligence in typical individuals. We therefore investigated autism spectrum performance on inspection time in relation to two different general intelligence tests. Autism spectrum individuals were divided into autistic and Asperger subgroups according to speech development history. Compared to a typical control group, mean inspection time for the autistic subgroup but not the Asperger subgroup was significantly shorter (by 31%). However, the shorter mean autistic inspection time was evident only when groups were matched on Wechsler IQ and disappeared when they were matched using Raven's Progressive Matrices. When autism spectrum abilities are compared to typical abilities, results may be influenced by speech development history as well as by the instrument used for intelligence matching.

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Cited references
37
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
4 / 37 (10.8%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
4 / 138 (2.9%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 4 / 45 (8.9%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 1 / 115 (0.9%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
45 / 138 (32.6%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 29 / 115 (25.2%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
41 / 45 (91.1%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 41 / 138 (29.7%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 28 / 29 (96.6%).
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