Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Centre d'Excellence en Troubles Envahissants du Développement de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
Cogn Neuropsychol. 2010 May;27(3):261-76. doi: 10.1080/02643294.2010.519228. Epub 2010 Oct 13.
Anecdotal reports of superior estimation abilities in autistic individuals (e.g., Sacks, 1985) have never been confirmed empirically. We present here case studies of 2 children with autistic spectrum diagnoses and report remarkable abilities in estimation for several quantifiable dimensions. K.T. and G.T. were tested at 9 years of age for estimation of rank, numerosity, time, weight, length, surface, distance, and precise enumeration for small numbers. Their performances were compared to those of 6 age- and IQ- matched comparison children. K.T. demonstrated a superior level of performance in estimating rank (e.g., which set has larger numerosity?) but his performance in other tasks was average. G.T. displayed outstanding performance in estimating numerosity, time, weight, surface, length, and distance, with average performance in other tasks. These results show that certain autistic spectrum individuals may develop superior and highly specialized abilities in estimation. We discuss these findings in relation to the role of "veridical mapping" in the development of special ability (Mottron, Dawson, & Soulieres, 2009; Mottron, Dawson, Soulieres, Hubert, & Burack, 2006a). Veridical mapping is the detection of isomorphism within a code, between two codes, or between one code and isomorphic elements of the world. Within this framework, it is proposed that estimation abilities, like absolute pitch, rely on the ability to map a verbal code with a specific magnitude of a psychophysical dimension.
一些自闭症患者具有出色的估计能力的轶事报告（例如，Sacks，1985）从未得到过实证证实。我们在这里报告了 2 名自闭症谱系诊断儿童的案例研究，并报告了他们在几个可量化维度上的出色估计能力。K.T. 和 G.T. 在 9 岁时接受了等级、数量、时间、重量、长度、表面、距离和小数量精确计数的估计测试。他们的表现与 6 名年龄和智商匹配的对照组儿童进行了比较。K.T. 在估计等级（例如，哪个集合的数量更大？）方面表现出了出色的水平，但他在其他任务中的表现则一般。G.T. 在估计数量、时间、重量、表面、长度和距离方面表现出色，而在其他任务中的表现则一般。这些结果表明，某些自闭症谱系个体可能在估计方面发展出卓越的、高度专业化的能力。我们将这些发现与“真实映射”在特殊能力发展中的作用（Mottron、Dawson 和 Soulieres，2009；Mottron、Dawson、Soulieres、Hubert 和 Burack，2006a）联系起来进行讨论。真实映射是指在一个代码、两个代码或一个代码与世界的同构元素之间检测代码内的同构性。在这个框架内，人们提出，估计能力（如绝对音高）依赖于将言语代码映射到心理物理维度的特定量级的能力。
