Edinburgh Research Archive logo

Edinburgh Research Archive

University of Edinburgh homecrest
View Item 
  •   ERA Home
  • Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, School of
  • Psychology
  • Psychology Masters thesis collection
  • View Item
  •   ERA Home
  • Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, School of
  • Psychology
  • Psychology Masters thesis collection
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Category use in problem-solving as a window on the autistic cognitive style.

View/Open
MSc_Master_BenAD.pdf (1.518Mb)
Date
31/08/2009
Item status
Restricted Access
Author
Alderson-Day, Ben
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Recent research on cognitive functioning in autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) has seen a divergence in approach between accounts that emphasise a general cognitive style (Baron-Cohen, 2002; Happé & Frith, 2006) versus those who focus on specific cognitive deficits and difficulties (Plaisted et al, 2006; Minshew et al, 2002). The present study attempted to address this by investigating categorisation abilities in problem-solving; a set of specific processes which also have implications for cognitive style and general information processing. Two tasks were devised based on the Twenty Questions verbal inquiry paradigm (Mosher & Hornsby, 1966) to examine factors affecting category use in ASD problem-solving. A group of high-functioning children with autism (n =14) and a group of typically-developing controls (n = 14) were tested on both tasks. Participants were required to ask questions to identify a series of items selected by the experimenter from a closed set, in a task structure similar to guessing games such as Guess Who?. Effects of task content, cognitive flexibility, memory and language were analysed. ASD participants were significantly impaired in successful category use on trials containing primarily conceptual content, but demonstrated unimpaired levels of performance on trials where perceptual content dictated grouping. However, ASD participants also consistently asked questions of lower quality than controls, indicating some form of persistent local focus on the level of sets. In addition, verbal IQ was found to specifically support performance in ASD participants but not controls. The implications of these findings are discussed with reference to understanding of the autistic cognitive style, methodological issues in the matching of ASD individuals, and the possible neural basis of cognitive abnormalities in autistic spectrum disorders.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/3635
Collections
  • Psychology Masters thesis collection

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page

 

 

All of ERACommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisorsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsPublication TypeSponsorSupervisors
LoginRegister

Library & University Collections HomeUniversity of Edinburgh Information Services Home
Privacy & Cookies | Takedown Policy | Accessibility | Contact
Privacy & Cookies
Takedown Policy
Accessibility
Contact
feed RSS Feeds

RSS Feed not available for this page