Figure Disembedding: The Gottschaldt's Hidden Figure Test in Children with Typical Development and Autism.
Massimiliano Conson, Mattia Siciliano, Luigi Trojano and 6 others
PMID 34476659WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism completed the hidden figure test significantly faster than matched peers, but their accuracy was no better.
Speed alone did not separate the groups reliably, and the test cannot diagnose autism.
Key findings
01Children with autism were significantly faster than age-matched typically developing controls, but showed no significant difference in accuracy.
02The Gottschaldt's Hidden Figure Test produced age-specific normative data for Italian children aged 7 to 11, with no significant effects of sex or socioeconomic status.
03When tested against a control group, time scores from the hidden figure test discriminated children with autism from typically developing controls with 68.2% overall accuracy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size for the autism group was small (22 children), which limits the reliability of the comparison. The normative data applies only to native Italian-speaking children in Southern Italy, so it may not generalize to other cultural or linguistic groups. The study only included children aged 7 to 11, so it does not provide norms for younger or older children. The test measured total time for all items, not time per correct item, so faster times could reflect impulsive responding rather than efficient processing. The diagnostic accuracy of 68.2% is too low for clinical use in distinguishing autism from typical development.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the authors' institution, Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. No commercial conflicts of interest were reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret faster completion times on the hidden figure test as evidence of superior visual perception or as a diagnostic marker for autism. The groups did not differ in accuracy, and the test's overall classification accuracy of 68.2% is too low for clinical diagnosis.