People With Autism Complete IQ Test Faster, Learn Differently, Study Says

People with autism completed a reasoning test 40 percent faster than their peers in a new study. But both groups scored about the same on the test.

The reason behind the time disparity: those with autism used different parts of their brains to problem solve yielding a faster pace, researchers say. The findings could help experts better understand how to teach people with autism.

In the study, scientists used a brain scanner to monitor a group of teens and adults with autism and a group without the disorder while they completed an intelligence test.

Questions on the test asked subjects to solve problems. For example, one question included a picture with dots and lines with one section missing. Test takers had to select from a group of choices the combination of dots and lines that would complete the picture accurately. People with autism relied on visual processing to quickly identify the correct answer, while members of the control group were more apt to use trial and error.

The research, which was published in the journal Human Brain Mapping, suggests the people with autism may learn best when given repeated visual examples of a concept that has been broken down into small pieces, reports The (Toronto) Globe and Mail. To read more click here.