The Influence of Systemizing, Empathizing and Autistic Traits on Visuospatial Abilities

Much evidence indicates that neurotypical individuals with high level of autistic traits show performances comparable to those of autistic individuals in visuospatial tasks, such as the embedded figure test and the block design task. On the contrary, the role of autistic-like traits on mental rotation abilities in neurotypical population still remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate in a sample of 315 University students (147 female and 168 male) the influence autistic-related traits (including systemizing and empathizing) on different visuospatial skills, as hidden figure identification and mental rotations, also taking into account the influence of participants’ sex. Results showed significant effect of sex on specific behavioural traits associated with autism, as attention switching and imagination, while no sex differences were found in visuospatial skills. More relevant, results showed that performance on figure disembedding was more related to autism-related social skills while performance on mental rotation was more related to systemizing.