The inner speech and visualization in verbal autism questionnaire: A study and preliminary validation.

Researchers developed a new questionnaire to study how autistic people use 'inner speech' (talking to yourself in your head) and mental pictures. They found that autistic people don't use inner speech differently than neurotypical people, but they may use mental pictures more and talk to themselves out loud more often. Autistic women showed more back-and-forth conversations in their inner speech.

This study presents the preliminary validation of the Inner Speech and Visualization in Verbal Autism Questionnaire (ISVAQ), examining cognitive processes in 79 autistic and 81 neurotypical participants. Results showed no significant differences in inner speech use between groups, though autistic participants reported higher visualization scores (weak significance). Notably, autistic individuals showed significantly higher private speech scores, and autistic women demonstrated greater levels of dialogic inner speech. The questionnaire provides a first-person approach to studying these cognitive processes, contributing to understanding how autistic individuals experience and use internal cognitive strategies.

Findings suggest autistic individuals may benefit from visual learning strategies and that private speech should be recognized as a valid self-regulation tool rather than discouraged. Gender-specific approaches may be warranted, particularly for autistic women.

Study presents only preliminary validation data. Sample sizes are modest for subgroup analyses. Effect sizes and methodological details are not specified in the abstract. Replication needed to confirm findings, particularly the gender-specific and visualization results.

We present the design and preliminary validation of a new scale for the study of inner speech and visualization in verbal autism, the Inner Speech and Visualization in Verbal Autism Questionnaire (ISVAQ). The questionnaire contributes to the study of inner speech, visualization and private speech from a first-person approach. We ran a study with 79 autistic and 81 neurotypical participants, and the results of the study showed that there was no significant difference in the (reported) uses of inner speech in autistic people compared to controls, although there was a weak though significant difference in higher visualization scores. Results also showed a significant difference in higher scores in private speech in the autistic population, as well as greater levels of dialogic inner speech in autistic women.

We discuss these results in relation to existing empirical and theoretical research.