The Relationship Between Subthreshold Autistic Traits, Ambiguous Figure Perception and Divergent Thinking

Abstract

This research investigates the paradox of creativity in autism. That is, whether people with subclinical autistic traits have cognitive styles conducive to creativity or whether they are disadvantaged by the implied cognitive and behavioural rigidity of the autism phenotype. The relationship between divergent thinking (a cognitive component of creativity), perception of ambiguous figures, and self-reported autistic traits was evaluated in 312 individuals in a non-clinical sample. High levels of autistic traits were significantly associated with lower fluency scores on the divergent thinking tasks. However autistic traits were associated with high numbers of unusual responses on the divergent thinking tasks. Generation of novel ideas is a prerequisite for creative problem solving and may be an adaptive advantage associated with autistic traits.

An exploratory study of creativity and eating disorders

“…To the extent that ED and autism are associated (as suggested by Hambrook, Tchanturia, Schmidt, & Treasure [19]), our results are somewhat convergent with Best, Arora, Porter and Doherty [20] who found that degree of subthreshold autistic traits was associated with less flexibility but not less originality.…”

Investigating Mirror System (MS) Activity in Adults with ASD When Inferring Others’ Intentions Using Both TMS and EEG

“…This resulted in three participant groups: low AQ (n = 15), high AQ (n = 15) and ASD (n = 13). Participants without an ASD diagnosis were grouped into low and high AQ groups due to findings of subtler versions of the behavioural and neural characteristics associated with ASD in individuals without a diagnosis but relatively high levels of autistic traits (Best et al 2015 ; Di Martino et al 2009 ; Lindell et al 2009 ; Ridley et al 2011 ; van Boxtel and Lu 2013 ). AQ scores were used to group these individuals initially and further psychological assessments were later used to quantify the level of autistic traits displayed in more detail (see Psychological Assessments ).…”

Abilities to Explicitly and Implicitly Infer Intentions from Actions in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Due to the spectral nature of ASD, individuals without a diagnosis also display varying degrees of autistic traits. Individuals with relatively high but not clinically significant levels of autistic traits have been shown to display subtler versions of the behavioural and neurological characteristics associated with ASD (Best et al 2015 ; Di Martino et al 2009 ; Lindell et al 2009 ; Ridley et al 2011 ; van Boxtel and Lu 2013 ) including mentalizing deficits (Baron-Cohen et al 2001 ; Chung et al 2014 ; Happé 1994 ; Kana et al 2014 ; Moran et al 2011 ).…”