Absolute pitch in autism: A case study

Abstract

We present the case study of QC, a low-functioning adolescent with autism, who possesses the special ability of absolute pitch. QC participated in an in-depth assessment of pitch perception and processing systems relevant for current cognitive models of autism. Her performance was compared to that of mental age-and chronological age-matched groups of persons with average intelligence, or to that of musicians. Absolute pitch in identification and production was confirmed. No abnormalities were found in perception of hierarchical (local-global) properties for visual patterns and music. However, a deficit in two components of executive functions, cognitive flexibility and planning for different materials, was evident. Short- and long-term memory for verbal, non-verbal and musical material were without particularities, although QC revealed an exceptional long-term memory for musical pieces when the piano was used for recall. This case suggests that absolute pitch in autism may not result from a multimodal deficit in processing global information. Rather, it may result from a lack of cognitive flexibility in a person with a marked interest for auditory stimuli that occurred at the critical age for the appearance of absolute pitch.