ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a brief overview of analogical reasoning, first in the typically developing population and then in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) population. Many studies of analogical reasoning have used variations of a mapping task, which requires the participant to identify correspondences between specific objects in the source and target. Instructions sometimes specify that a relational match is to be sought, but may instead leave the match criterion relatively vague. The chapter presents a systematic review of empirical investigations of analogical reasoning in autism, including studies that assessed performance on J. C. Raven’s matrices. The spared analogical abilities observed in ASD also suggest refinements in models of autistic functioning. On the face of it, solving problems of the type exemplified by Raven’s matrices requires attention to visuospatial relations between geometrical forms and also requires integration of constraints provided by multiple relations.