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

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.