Raven's Progressive Matrices Research Articles

Linking the Standard and Advanced Raven Progressive Matrices tests to model intelligence covariance in twin families

An abundance of research shows significant resemblance in standardized IQ scores in children and their biological parents. Twin and family studies based on such standardized scores suggest that a large proportion of the resemblance is due to genetic transmission, rather than cultural transmission. However, most studies used standardized intelligence scores that were based on different tests for different age groups, which makes it hard to say if the exact same construct is measured. Here we re-analyze intelligence data on two different versions of the Raven Progressive Matrices test, collected in Dutch twin children (Standard test version) and their biological parents (Advanced test version). First, the data from parents and their offspring were harmonized using test linking through an item response theory measurement model. This required collecting data from extra participants who were assessed with items from both test versions. Next, the raw item data were analyzed to study transmission of intelligence, correcting for the differences in difficulty of the items in the parental and child test versions and differences in measurement reliability. Results showed a significant difference in the phenotypic variance in intelligence in the two generations. Model fitting showed that the surplus variance in the parental generation is likely due to surplus environmental variance that is not transmitted to the offspring. This could reflect that there was extra measurement error under the parental testing conditions. Genetic modelling showed that intelligence covariance in parents and their children is most likely based on genetic transmission without cultural transmission.

Adaptation et validation d’une échelle des signes neurologiques mineurs chez l’enfant

BackgroundNeurological soft signs (NSS) include anomalies in motor integration, coordination, sensory integration and lateralization and could be endophenotypic markers in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Their characterization provides a more precise phenotype of ASD and more homogeneous subtypes to facilitate clinical and genetic research. Few scales for NSS have been adapted and validated in children including children with ASD. Our objective was to perform an adaptation to the child of a scale assessing neurological soft signs and a validation study in both general and clinical populations. MethodsWe have selected the NSS scale of Krebs et al. (2000) already validated in adults. It encompasses 5 dimensions: motor coordination, motor integration, sensory integration, involuntary movement, laterality. After a preliminary study that examined 42 children, several changes have been made to the original version to adapt it to the child and to increase its feasibility, particularly in children with ASD. Then we conducted a validation study by assessing the psychometric properties of this scale in a population of 86 children including 26 children with ASD (DSM 5 Criteria) and 60 typically developing children. Children's ages ranged between 6 and 12 years, and patients and controls were matched for gender, age and intelligence. Patients were assessed using the Autism diagnostic Interview-revised and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale to confirm diagnosis. Typically developing children were assessed using the semi-structured Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents to eliminate any psychiatric disorder. All children with neurological pathologies (history of cerebral palsy, congenital anomaly of the central nervous system, epilepsy, tuberous sclerosis, neurofibromatosis, antecedent of severe head trauma) and obvious physical deformities or sensory deficits that could interfere with neurological assessment were excluded from the study. Both patients and controls were assessed using the Raven Progressive Matrices to exclude intellectual disability, and the adapted Krebs’ scale for the assessment of NSS. ResultsAdaptation of the scale consisted of a modification in the order of items, in the use of concrete supports for the assessment of laterality and in the elimination of item constructive praxis. The internal consistency was good with a Cronbach alpha of 0.87. Inter-rater reliability was good, kappa coefficient was greater than 0.75 for 16 items, 3 items had a kappa value between 0.74 and 0.60, only 1 item had a kappa coefficient between 0.4 and 0.59. Good inter-rater reliability was also checked for the total score with a value of intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.91. Principal component analysis found five factors accounting for 62.96 % of the total variance. About the comparison between patients and controls, significant differences were found for NSS total score (P=0.000) and all subscores. ConclusionThe adaptation for children of the Krebs et al.’ NSS scale proved to be valid, especially in children with ASD.

The Predictive Utility of a Working Memory Span Task Depends on Processing Demand and the Cognitive Task

SummaryThe relationship between performance in working memory (WM) span tasks, scholastic skills and fluid intelligence was investigated to determine how WM span is related to higher order cognition. The predictive utility of two WM span tasks differing in the demand of the processing task was studied with controlled presentation times and a broad set of academic criterion tasks. Sixty‐eight adolescents (mean age 16 years) completed two WM span tasks, Raven's Progressive Matrices and several scholastic performance measures. The results showed that the more demanding WM span task predicted fluid intelligence, but did not contribute uniquely in explaining scholastic performance. In contrast, the less demanding WM task predicted scholastic performance. The results suggest that the strength of the relation between WM performance and higher order cognition varies in conjunction with both the demand of the WM span task and the type of higher order cognition measure.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PS89. Influence of anxiety symptoms on improvement of neurocognitive functions in patients with major depressive disorder: A 12-week, multicenter, randomized trial of tianeptine versus escitalopram, the CAMPION study

Background: Previous research has reported evidence that patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) show anxiety symptoms and neurocognitive impairments. However, the influence of anxiety on neurocognitive function in MDD patients during antidepressant treatment is unclear. Method: MDD patients (n¼164) completed a 12-week, multicenter, randomized trial assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either tianeptine or escitalopram. Changes of anxiety symptoms were assessed by the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), self-rated subjective cognitive impairment on memory and concentration, the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Continuous Performance Test (CPT), Verbal Learning Test (VLT), and Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) were assessed every 4 weeks. Results: During 12 weeks of treatment, decrease in the HAM-A score was significantly associated with improvement of subjective cognitive impairments on memory (po0.001) and concentration (po0.001), and objective measures on delayed memory (p¼0.006) and reasoning ability (p ¼0.002), after adjusting for covariates such as baseline HAM-A scores, time, sex, age, education years and assigned medication using the Mixed effects and Generalized Estimated Equation model analysis. However, the other cognitive outcome variables, immediate memory, commission error, and MMSE, which showed significant improvement through 12-week study period, showed no significant association with improvement of anxiety. Conclusion: Improvement of anxiety symptoms was significantly associated with improvement in subjective and objective neurocognitive functions such as delayed memory and reasoning ability in elderly MDD patients during antidepressant treatment, but not significantly associated with improvement of immediate memory and commission error. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01309776

A pilot randomized controlled trial comparing computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation, stimulant medication, and an active control in the treatment of ADHD.

This research aimed to compare computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation (CACR) psychostimulants (MED) and placebo CACR (PCACR) in the treatment of ADHD using a multiarm parallel design. Thirty-four boys with ADHD, aged 7-12, were randomly assigned to either CACR (n=12), MED (n=11), or PCACR (n=11). However, the study was not blinded and medication doses might be suboptimal given the lack of titration. Continuous performance test, Tower-of-London, forward/backward digit span, span board, Raven's progressive matrices, and SNAP-IV were completed at baseline, posttest, and follow-up. Computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation outperformed both MED and PCACR on backward digit span at posttest and PCACR at follow-up. CACR outperformed PCACR and MED on forward digit span at posttest and PCACR at follow-up. CACR outperformed MED on span board at posttest. CACR outperformed PCACR and MED on Raven's matrices at posttest. CACR and PCACR scored lower than MED on ADHD-PHI at posttest. CACR scored lower than MED on ADHD-C at posttest. Immediately after interventions, CACR improved certain simple executive functions (EFs) as much as active stimulant medication. On complex EFs, CACR was superior to active stimulant medication and PCACR. CACR reduced behavioral symptoms of ADHD more than active stimulant medication. However, at 3-month follow-up, maintenance of the CACR gains was weak.

Raven's Progressive Matrices in the Lexicon of Dynamic Mapping of the Brain (MRI).

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we studied intracerebral dynamics during completion of Raven's Progressive Matrices test. Solving the test organized in sets of progressively increasing difficulty cause changes in cerebellar activation functionally related to cognitive activities and operations. As the tasks became more complicated, we observed gradual suppression of the activity of default mode network (DMN). The most pronounced changes in cerebral activation patterns occurred the second set of the test and involved associative somatosensory area and Wernicke's area that is known to play an important role in cognitive processes associated with synthesis and analysis of information.

Constructive Solving of Raven's IQ Tests with Analogical Proportions

The paper shows that a Boolean logic modeling of analogical proportions can serve as a basis for solving quizzes as well as a common and popular type of IQ tests, namely Raven's progressive matrices. They are nonverbal tests supposedly measuring general intelligence. 3 × 3 Raven matrix exhibits eight geometric pictures displayed as its eight first cells: the remaining ninth cell is empty. In these tests, a set of candidate pictures is also given among which the subject is asked to identify the solution. In this paper, we investigate a general approach allowing to automatically solve Raven's progressive matrices tests. The approach is based on a logical view of analogical proportions, i.e., statements of the form A is to B as C is to D. We assume that analogical proportions hold between the rows and between the columns of the Raven's matrix. This view can be applied to a feature-based description of the pictures but also, in a number of cases, to a very low level representation, i.e., the pixel level. It appears that the analogical proportion reading just amounts here to a recopy of patterns of feature values that already appear in the data, after checking that there is no conflicting patterns. Implementing this principle, our algorithm builds up the ninth picture, without the help of any set of candidate solutions, and only on the basis of the eight known cells of the Raven matrices. comparison with other approaches is provided. The ability to construct the missing picture without relying on candidate solutions is a distinctive feature of our work. Moreover, we emphasize the general principle underlying the approach that offers a simple and uniform mechanism applicable to the tests. At this step, the paper makes no claim about the cognitive validity of the approach with respect to the way humans solve such tests.

The Efficacy of Rehearsal Strategy on Visual Short-Term Memory of Children with Down Syndrome

Introduction: Down syndrome is the most common genetic cause (22% on average) of learning disability. Individuals with Down syndrome show deficits in working memory which is responsible for the storage of information and plays an important role in learning. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of rehearsal strategy on visual short-term memory of educable children with Down syndrome and of 5 to 8 years of age. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, after obtaining the consent of their parents, 24 children from the Iranian Down Syndrome Charity Association were chosen through convenience sampling, and then, evaluated using Raven's Progressive Matrices. The children were randomly allocated to experimental and control groups. The experimental group participants were taught rehearsal strategy in 8 group sessions. All children were assessed using the visual memory sequence test before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using single-factor ANCOVA. Results: The results of ANCOVA showed that rehearsal strategy increased digit and word span and improved visual short-term memory (P < 0.001) in children who received the intervention in comparison with the control group. Conclusion: This study reflects that rehearsal strategy is one of the main methods that can be used to improve the quality of visual short-term memory of children with Down syndrome.

Long-Term Cognitive Impairment in Kleine-Levin Syndrome.

In Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS), episodes of hypersomnia, cognitive, and behavioral disturbances alternate with asymptomatic periods. Because 50% of patients report decreased academic performances, we evaluated their cognitive status during asymptomatic periods, determinants of deficits, and changes during follow-up. The cognitive assessment during asymptomatic periods in all consecutive patients with typical KLS and healthy controls included the non-verbal intelligence quotient (Raven Progressive Matrices), the Trail Making Test, the Stroop Color-Word Test, the Wechsler Memory Test, verbal fluencies, the Free and Cued Learning Memory Test, and the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure. Cognitive status was reevaluated after 0.5 to 2 y in 44 patients. At baseline, compared with the 42 controls, the 122 patients with KLS exhibited lower non-verbal intelligence quotient, speed of processing, attention, and reduced retrieval strategies in episodic memory. Higher episode frequency, shorter episode duration, shorter time since last episode, deeper sleep, and megaphagia during episodes predicted impaired memory. The visuoconstructional abilities and non-verbal memory were intact. After a mean follow-up of 1.7 ± 1.0 y, the episode frequency decreased from 4.6 ± 4.8 to 1.7 ± 1.9/y. The logical reasoning and attention improved, the processing speed remained low, and the retrieval strategies in verbal memory further worsened. In this field study, one-third of patients with KLS have long-term cognitive deficits affecting retrieval and processing speed. Cognitive function should be systematically tested in patients with KLS, which appears important to help patients in their academic studies.

Quality of life, cognitive level and school performance in children with functional lower urinary tract dysfunction.

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) are voiding dysfunctions without anatomical or neurological defects. The diagnosis is primarily clinical, with symptoms standardized by the International Children's Continence Society. Few studies relate quality of life of patients with cognitive and school performance. To evaluate milestones of bladder control, daily problems, quality of life (QoL), cognitive function and school performance of children with LUTD. Case series of patients followed in the Pediatric Nephrology tertiary hospital with assessment of QoL (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory - PedsQoL version 4), School Performance Test (TDE) and Raven Progressive Matrices test. Girls of lower social class were (90.9%) of eligible children. The mean age was 9.1 ± 4.8 years old. The most common symptoms were urge incontinence (81%), holding maneuvers (77.3%) and enuresis (59.1%) associated with the elimination disorder syndrome (63.6%). Caregivers considered volunteers urinary losses and/ or symptoms, and fought and/or beat the child. Children had been subjected to embarrassing situations such as warnings of teachers, they hid symptoms and/or the dirty clothes. Mean score of QoL was 71.0 ± 12.6 with the lowest mean score on the school dimension. In TDE 55% had lower performance and in Raven Matrices 60% were intellectually in the medium level. It was observed lower QoL scores in the medium and lower level of TDE and average intellectual capacity/below average in Raven matrices. LUTD may negatively affect family and social relationships, school performance and QoL of children with the dysfunction.

Особенности отношения младших школьников к произведениям изобразительного искусства, предъявляемых в репродукции и компьютерной презентации

There is an issue, which is connected with the active using of multimedia technology in education, including art. The question of the effectiveness of the production computer presentation as compared with the traditional method of production in getting acquainted students with the works of art. It is presented a study, which is aimed to analyze the differences in the perception of junior school children works of art, depending on the format of presentation (reproduction, the electronic form). It is explained a special designed method for this study, called "Talk about your impressions". There were 60 students, of the second grade progymnasium number 1756, who were involved in this study. The method "Talk about your impressions" is used to identify differences in the perception of works of art, depending on the presentation format. In order to identify the differences in the understanding of the subjects of figurative content of the picture, depending on the development of imaginative and logical thinking, and the stability and concentration following methods were used: Test Toulouse-Pieroni, Raven Progressive Matrices, the method of semantic differential Charles Osgood (modification of Guruzhapova V.A.). The results showed that the vast majority of the subjects in the comparison of the situation identical pictures, but in different formats (reproduction, electronic format) prefer reproduction. It is shown that the understanding of a holistic way of painting subjects are not related to the format requirements of the pictures. It was found that the difference in the understanding of younger schoolboys figurative content of the picture does not dependent on the development of imaginative or logical thinking, and on the stability and concentration. This work was performed by grant of Davydov V. V.

Executive functions and intelligence in typically developing children

With regard to conceptual similarity between executive functions and intelligence, the aim of this research was to determine their correlation in typically developing children. The sample included 114 children of both sexes (59/51.8% of girls), between 8.7 and 10.8 years of age (M=9.80; SD=0.57). Dodrill's Stroop Test, Go/No-Go Task, Listening Span Task, Digit Span Backward, Odd-one-out span, Figure Span Backward, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Twenty Questions Task and Tower of London were used for the assessment of executive functions. Intelligence was assessed by Raven's Progressive Matrices. Pearson's correlation and partial correlation coefficients were used in statistical analysis of the results. A low to moderate correlation was determined between intelligence and the variables of all applied executive functions tasks, both in verbal and non-verbal domain (p≤0.000-0.05). Inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and planning ability correlated with fluid intelligence in the range of r=0.20-0.30, while the correlation with working memory was in the range of r=0.40-0.50. The obtained results confirmed the assumption that intelligence and executive functions were different constructs regardless of their conceptual similarity.

Effectiveness of writing education by the multimedia instruction on performance of students with dictation learning disorder

Aim: The present research was done with the aim of effectiveness of writing education by the multimedia instruction on decline of the spelling disability signs, for students with learning disorders. Methods: An experimental and a pretest-posttest control group design method were applied. For this purpose with considering inclusion criterions of research, thirty students with spelling disability at third-grade have been chosen based on a random sampling method from all the elementary students in third-grades of Mobarakeh city studying academic year 2014–2015 and then by chance placed in two experimental (15) and control (15) group. Tools selected for data gathering of the research includes: Raven's Progressive Matrices Test for adults and spelling test. The experimental group was tested along 12 sessions, and data were analyzed with analysis of variance test using SPSS-22 (IBM Company, USA). Results: The results represented that behind the spelling test and its related subscales there is a statistical significant difference (P = 0.0001) between the performances of experimental and control group. Conclusions: Then it conclude that training with the multimedia has positive effects on the mistakes of students with learning disabilities to be decreased and also considering the software effectiveness it is suggested to apply modern computer-assisted methods in classrooms to decline the spelling problems of students.

COGNITIVE SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE: INTERRELATIONS WITH OVERESTIMATION, OVERPLACEMENT AND OVERPRECISION

ABSTRACTThis experimental study measures the three major types of judgmental overconfidence in a within‐subjects design. Performance‐based overestimation and overplacement are elicited in a Raven Progressive Matrices test for general intelligence. Calibration‐based overprecision is evaluated in a forecasting by confidence intervals task. This study takes a closer look at the interrelations of these different types. Moreover, as the main focus, it considers the effect of cognitive abilities on overconfidence. These are quantified in a cognitive reflection test. I find that cognitive skills are substantially interrelated with subjects’ confidence levels. Although overconfidence in absolute terms (overestimation) is not affected by cognitive abilities, the effect on overconfidence in relative terms (overplacement) is positive and significant. Overprecision, the calibration‐based type of overconfidence, is found to be significantly affected by cognitive capacity as well. Interval forecasts of cognitively more able subjects were much better calibrated than those of their peers who displayed substantial overconfidence in the precision of their forecasts.

Dimensionality of the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices: Sex differences and visuospatial ability

Raven's progressive matrices are considered a measure of inductive reasoning. However, there is evidence to suggest that they are not unidimensional, and they may measure visuospatial ability in addition to inductive reasoning. We investigated the psychometric properties of several versions of the Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM). Confirmatory factor analyses and Rasch analyses were used to investigate the dimensionality of the test, sex differences regarding dimensionality, and the utility of proposed taxonomies of item solution strategies. Three samples were administered three different forms of the test. Sample 1 consisted of 1297 individuals (929 females) who completed a 12-item short form; Sample 2 consisted of 455 individuals (327 females) who completed the full APM; and Sample 3 consisted of 362 individuals (244 females) who completed a 15-item short form. Results indicated that all three forms of the APM are unidimensional and measurement invariant across sex. There was little support for the validity of the taxonomies of solution strategies.

Niveles de inferencia de comprensión lectora según tipo de texto estímulo en estudiantes de educación secundaria

A study was conducted with the purpose of verifying the significant difference in reading comprehension at an inferential level between ptint and digital formats. This research is a group comparison using only a posttest, conducted in a state-run secondary school in Lima. From the 80 students in year four, 38 were selected following the results of Raven's Progressive Matrices Test. A questionnaire on reading habits was applied, as well as a questionnaite on the students” relationship with digital media and a reading comprehension test measuring the inferential level locally and globally, in both print and digital formats. The results lead to the conclusion that no significant differences were found between the data obtained in both reading formats. In addition, it was confirmed that digital competence does not significantly affect the level of students” inferential comprehension.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and intellectual giftedness: a study of symptom frequency and minor physical anomalies.

To evaluate the presence of symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in intellectually gifted adults and children. Two cross-sectional studies were performed in children and adults whose intelligence quotient (IQ) had been previously evaluated using Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) test. Seventy-seven adults displaying IQ scores above the 98th percentile were assessed using the Adult Self-Report Scale (ASRS-18) for signs of ADHD and a modified Waldrop scale for minor physical anomalies (MPAs). Thirty-nine children (grades 1-5) exhibiting IQ scores above the 99th percentile, as well as an equally matched control group, were assessed for ADHD by teachers using the Swanson, Nolan and Pelham IV Rating Scale (SNAP-IV) as used in the NIMH Collaborative Multisite Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (MTA-SNAP-IV). In gifted adults, the frequency of ADHD-positive cases was 37.8%, and the total MPA score was significantly associated with ADHD (p < 0.001). In children, the ADHD-positive case frequency was 15.38% in the gifted group and 7.69% in the control group (odds ratio [OR] = 2.18, p = 0.288). The high frequency of ADHD symptoms observed, both in gifted adults and in gifted (and non-gifted) children, further supports the validity of this diagnosis in this population. Furthermore, the significant association between MPAs and ADHD suggests that a neurodevelopmental condition underlies these symptoms.

Longitudinal evidence linking processing speed to the development of reasoning.

Age-related change in processing speed has been linked directly to increases in reasoning as well as indirectly via increases in the capacity of working memory (WM). Most of the evidence linking change in speed to reasoning has come from cross-sectional research; in this article we present the findings from a 2½-year longitudinal study of 277 6- to-13-year-olds. On three occasions, speed of information processing was assessed with Visual Matching and Cross Out; WM was assessed with reading, listening, backward digit, alphabet, and operation span tasks; and nonverbal reasoning was assessed with Raven's progressive matrices. The results provided consistent evidence of direct links from processing speed to reasoning but inconsistent evidence for indirect links from speed to WM to reasoning. These findings suggest that variations in processing speed may constrain the development of reasoning, directly and perhaps indirectly. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/nc0VlFdi468.

Behavioral evidence for a functional link between low- and mid-level visual perception in the autism spectrum

BackgroundMost investigations of visuo-perceptual abilities in the Autism Spectrum (AS) are level-specific, using tasks that selectively solicit either lower- (i.e., spatial frequency sensitivity), mid- (i.e., pattern discrimination) or higher-level processes (i.e., face identification) along the visual hierarchy. Less is known about how alterations at one level of processing (i.e., low-level) interact with that of another (i.e., mid-level). The aim of this study was to assess whether manipulating the physical properties (luminance vs texture) of local contour elements of a mid-level, visual pattern interferes with the discrimination of that pattern in a differential manner for individuals with AS. MethodsTwenty-nine AS individuals and thirty control participants (range 14–27 years) were asked to discriminate between perfect circles and Radial Frequency Patterns (RFP) of two, three, five, and 10 radial frequencies (RF), or deformations along the pattern’s contour. When RFP have few deformations (<five RF), a global, pattern analysis is needed for shape discrimination. Conversely, when RFP contain many deformations (≥10 RF), discrimination is dependent on the analysis of local deformations along the RFP contour. The effect of manipulating RF on RFP discrimination was assessed for RFP whose local contour elements were defined by either luminance or texture information, the latter previously found less efficiently processed in AS individuals. ResultsTwo separate mixed factorial ANOVAs [2 (Group)×4 (RF)] were conducted on mean deformation thresholds for luminance- and texture-defined conditions. A significant Group×RF interaction was found for the luminance-defined condition where thresholds were higher in the AS group for the two and three RF conditions; no between-group differences were found for the five and 10 RF conditions. A significant main effect of group was identified for the texture-defined condition, where mean thresholds were higher for the AS group across all RF conditions assessed (two, three, five and 10); a Group×RF interaction effect was not found. Performance for each RFP condition was not affected across group by either chronological age or intelligence, as measured by either Weschler scales or Raven Progressive Matrices. ConclusionsThe ability of AS individuals to discriminate a circular pattern is differentially affected by the availability (number of deformations along the RFP contour) and type (luminance vs texture) of local, low-level elements defining its contour. Performance is unaffected in AS when RFP discrimination is dependent on the analysis of local deformations of luminance-defined contour elements, but decreased across all RF conditions when local contour elements are texture-defined. These results suggest that efficient pattern perception in AS is functionally related to the efficacy with which its local elements are processed, indicative of an early origin for altered mid-level, pattern perception in AS.

Dyslexia and Visuospatial Ability in Maltese Male Adolescents

A number of studies suggest that dyslexia is associated with enhanced visuospatial ability but the empirical evidence is inconsistent and there are numerous methodological issues. This study examined visuospatial ability among dyslexic and asymptomatic (non-dyslexic) adolescent boys aged 12 years. Thirty-six Maltese participants constituted the research and comparison groups. All participants were assessed on the age-appropriate section of the Spatial Reasoning Test and they were matched by age, ability measured by Ravens Progressive Matrices, socio-economic status and the type of school attended. Overall, the degree of visuospatial ability of the two groups was similar. A statistically significant advantage for the asymptomatic over the dyslexic group was evident on one task only, Hidden Shapes. In contrast, dyslexics outperformed non-dyslexics on the other three tasks constituting the battery including Jigsaws, Wallpaper and Right Angles subscales but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Although these findings did not support the notion that dyslexic individuals were more visuospatially endowed than a comparable, asymptomatic group of peers, the possibility of an underlying difference could not be discounted altogether. A number of reasons for the results obtained were examined including the relatively small sample size, participants' age, verbal mediation strategies and the nature of the visuospatial tasks. However, the findings that both groups had similar average results, with the dyslexic group having greater variation on the Hidden Shapes scale, smaller variation on Sections, Jigsaws and Wallpaper scales and the small tendency of this group to outperform the non-dyslexics group on a number of subscales warrants additional exploration of dyslexia and visuospatial ability. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n3p111