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Block design reconstruction skills: not a good candidate for an endophenotypic marker in autism research
[journal article]
Abstract Superior performance on block design tasks is reported in autistic individuals, although it is not consistently found in high-functioning individuals or individuals with Asperger Syndrome. It is assumed to reflect weak central coherence: an underlying cognitive deficit, which might also be part of t... view more
Superior performance on block design tasks is reported in autistic individuals, although it is not consistently found in high-functioning individuals or individuals with Asperger Syndrome. It is assumed to reflect weak central coherence: an underlying cognitive deficit, which might also be part of the genetic makeup of the disorder. We assessed block design reconstruction skills in high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) from multi-incidence families and in their parents. Performance was compared to relevant matched control groups. We used a task that was assumed to be highly sensitive to subtle performance differences. We did not find individuals with ASD to be significantly faster on this task than the matched control group, not even when the difference between reconstruction time of segmented and pre-segmented designs was compared. However, we found individuals with ASD to make fewer errors during the process of reconstruction which might indicate some dexterity in mental segmentation. However, parents of individuals with ASD did not perform better on the task than control parents. Therefore, based on our data, we conclude that mental segmentation ability as measured with a block design reconstruction task is not a neurocognitive marker or endophenotype useful in genetic studies.... view less
Classification
Psychological Disorders, Mental Health Treatment and Prevention
Free Keywords
high-functioning autism; autism; neuropsychology; psychology; cognitive style; parents
Document language
English
Publication Year
2009
Page/Pages
p. 197-205
Journal
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 18 (2009) 4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0708-6
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
PEER Licence Agreement (applicable only to documents from PEER project)