Neuropsychological functioning in adults with Asperger syndrome.
Adults with Asperger syndrome show clear visual memory and flexibility gaps even when verbal IQ is normal.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Ambery et al. (2006) gave a full battery of neuropsych tests to adults with Asperger syndrome.
They compared scores to adults without autism who matched them in age and verbal IQ.
The team looked at memory, attention, language, and executive skills like flexibility.
What they found
The Asperger group had normal verbal IQ and no verbal-performance split.
Still, they scored far below controls on visual memory and on flexible thinking tasks.
Other domains stayed in the average range, so the deficits were selective.
How this fits with other research
Funabiki et al. (2018) saw the same visual memory weakness, but only when pictures changed quickly.
That detail helps you decide when visual supports need longer display time.
Pellecchia et al. (2016) went further and found item and relational memory were also weak.
Together these papers show memory problems in adults with ASD are wider than first thought.
Karaca et al. (2026) pooled 42 studies and confirmed moderate flexibility deficits across adults with high-functioning autism.
Their meta puts a number on what Z et al. first described, strengthening the case for targeted flexibility training.
Why it matters
If you assess an adult with ASD never assume intact visual memory or flexible problem solving just because verbal skills are strong.
Add quick visual memory checks and flexibility probes to your intake.
When you teach new routines, give visual cues extra time on screen and build in structured choice points to support cognitive flexibility.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
There is some consensus in the literature regarding the cognitive profile of people with Asperger syndrome (AS). Findings to date suggest that a proportion of people with AS have higher verbal than performance IQ, a non-verbal learning disability (NVLD) and impairments in some aspects of executive function (EF). However, there are few published studies on adults with AS and many have compared the AS group to an autistic control group alone. We compared cognitive functioning in 27 AS adults without a history of language delay and 20 normal controls who did not differ significantly in age, gender and IQ. People with AS had significant impairments on a test of visual memory and on EF tasks measuring flexibility and generativity, but not inhibition. There was no significant difference between verbal and performance IQ. Our results suggest that impairments on tests requiring flexibility of thought and generation occur at all ages and across a range of autistic disorders including AS.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2006 · doi:10.1177/1362361306068507