The cognitive structure of higher functioning autism and schizophrenia: A comparative study

Abstract 

The purpose of this study was to examine whether performance on a standard cognitive test-battery can be used to clearly separate higher functioning autism from schizophrenia. Revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R) or Adults (WAIS-R) profiles of 20 autistic and 20 schizophrenic adolescent young adult subjects matched for age, sex, and IQ level were contrasted. On average, autistic individuals had higher values on the subtest “Similarities,” while schizophrenic participants scored better on “Comprehension.” Discriminant analysis showed that a prognosis of the psychiatric classification can be made with 82.5% accuracy if all subscale data are considered. Even though this finding probably has limited merit for making judgements in clinical practice, it might be of exploratory value in the pursuit of differentiating autism and schizophrenia on a cognitive level. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Erratum

In the article by Bölte et al., The Cognitive Structure of Higher Functioning Autism and Schizophrenia: A Comparative Study, published in the July/August issue (Compr Psychiatry 43:325-330, 2002), the text on page 327, right column, referring to values of the Wechsler test should read: “Here, the difference reached about 1.5 scaled scores.”

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