alexithymia and IQ correlation

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Much agreed. I am not spontaneously imaginative. I usually need a starting point, and I need to consciously direct my imagination, which is something I did learn to do - so I think your tutor is correct.

I also relate a lot to the problems with plot and character. I am also rather rubbish at conversations and conveying an appropriate amount of information. It sucks, because I would really love to write fiction.

Hope so, otherwise I'm going to fail my PhD! Finding it really hard atm but enjoying the research, and am obsessed with fairy tales so I love reading up about them. I'm rubbish at plot and character- my main character is non-gendered and isn't very developed and I'm still working on dialogue- that's my next target! Atm, I've got 3000 words of free thought from the point of view of the narrator about the nature of time and stories (another of my main interests) but need to work in a story somehow... I love the act of writing though

I'm not sure if I have alexithymia or not, but when I have seen therapists and the asked the, "How did that make you feel? question and I answered, they'd always say, "That's not a feeling." I can feel physical sensations but don't always connect them to the appropriate adjectives.

I have no idea what my IQ is, since I was tested at age 7 and the results are lost in the mists of time (and bureaucracy).

A more interesting inquiry would be to focus exclusively on spatial IQ. Here, I would hypothesize that there is a negative correlation between spatial IQ and emotional unawareness (sorry can't remember how to spell alexyth...and I'm on my phone). Spatial IQ is mostly based in the right hemisphere -- where a lot of emotional and creative processing also derives. The left hemisphere is cold and logical, and IQ tests like the Raven Matrices focus on the left hemisphere.

I'd be interested if there is anyone who has alexythemia and does well on the spatial IQ test by Dr. Costello (it's an unofficial--timed--test but still useful for self-assessment).

I haven't done a test recently but when I was about 15 (a long time before I even knew what AS was), we did lots of psychometric test and spatial tests were my lowest scores by a long way- I didn't even know what spatial IQ was at the time. Haven't done a test recently though.

Could you link the test?

Also, I don't think that Raven's Progressive Matrices focuses on either hemisphere. From what I've read issues with either hemisphere can lower the score.

Also, per at least some research I have seen, NT children process language bilaterally, but autistic children tend to process language mostly in the right hemisphere.

I found one that apparently charges for full results. 10 questions, 40 minutes. I finished it in 8 minutes and got:

If there is a version that will not cost $6.95 I would love to give it a go. Being broke kind of sucks.

I found two, actually - one on Queendom, one on Psychcentral. Both give the same vaguely worded result and charge for full results.

Shut up! You twit, what Utter rubbish!! !! !! !! !! ! I have it and have a above average IQ!

I think that people deserve the right to be mistaken withoutbeing taken to to task and insulted for it.

I agree! David, please apologize.

There's an unofficial one developed for university research that costs $.99 on the Apple Store. You can use it on the iphone or ipad or download a virtual ipad for your PC/Macbook if need be. Search for "spatial IQ test."

Both my mother (who definitely has alexythemia and maybe NVLD but is probably barely NT) and I aced the Raven Matrices test in the mensa range as teenagers, and both of us struggled with aspects of this test.

EDIT: here's the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spatial ... 41028?mt=8. I took it on my ipad.

Last edited by Tyri0n on 07 Jan 2013, 11:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm pretty sure I don't have a right hemisphere, so I doubt that's where I process language.

This may apply primarily to children with classic autism, not those with Asperger Syndrome. Classic autism involves issues with language understanding and use, and these children often have very well-developed spatial awareness, which is the exact opposite of most individuals with Aspergers Syndrome. But they also have similar problems. Could their alexithymia be related to language issues?

Those with Aspergers must necessarily have no problem with language development; therefore, any observed alexthymia is likely related to something else -- such as a dysfunctional right hemisphere, which could be measured by a spatial IQ test.

Is there anyone with a high spatial IQ AND a high verbal IQ and does NOT have NVLD who ALSO has alexithymia?

Was it removed, then?



Be careful about focusing on the results you want vs. the results you may get. The assumption that AS is necessarily different from autism to this extent is not particularly well supported in the research.

Also, having AS does not mean having no problem with language development. It means developing speech on time.



I appear to have a high spatial IQ, I do have a high verbal IQ, I do not have NVLD, and I do have alexithymia.

I can't find any virtual ipad that I can run on my PC that will enable me to run apps. They all seem to have extremely limited functionality and do not emulate an iPad very well. Actually, one of them does not emulate an iPad at all, but gives you something that looks like a mostly noninteractive iPad interface.

If you are anywhere on the autism spectrum, you are extremely likely to have alexithymia. If you are diagnosed with AS, you are likely to have NVLD, which can present spatial processing impairments. This is probably the actual link that exists. I do not think that alexithymia itself represents a global right hemisphere dysfunction, and thus it is unlikely to have any direct causation going either way with alexithymia.

Since the majority of those autistic people whose language processing is strictly in the right hemisphere (instead of both) are also likely to have alexithymia, such a connection seems even less likely.

Until a couple of years ago I thought everyone could visualize with spatial relationships as well as I could. I only recently found out that was wrong. It does, however, explain some exchanges I've had in the past. I also do not think in words.

Autism cannot really be explained in terms of global impairments, but rather in terms of uneven development. Autistic people - diagnosed anywhere on the spectrum - are likely to be better than expected at some things and worse than expected at other things. This includes being good at some things associated with the right hemisphere and bad at some things associated with the right hemisphere. Similar is true for the left hemisphere.

You may be right. Just because you are dysfunctional in one part of the right hemisphere doesn't necessarily mean you will be dysfunctional in another part.

Maybe a better question is what are the spatial IQ's of people with Aspergers who do NOT have alexithymia? There could still be a correlation and multiple exceptions (not saying there is but there could be) if it's accepted that not all right-hemisphere impairment is uniform.

I'm sorry. I've never actually used the virtual ipad. I have an actual ipad. I just saw it on the Apple website. I know there is one you can use to test apps, however. Maybe try the iphone one?

I'm high spacial IQ, high verbal IQ, and very much alexithymic.

I don't have NVLD.

I however am someone who has a very even IQ, my subtest scores are very even in the test I was given.