The advantages of astrophysics for those with reading impairment: An empirical study

Reading impairment has been empirically associated with advantages for certain specific skills involved in the analysis of images, and given that astronomy is a highly visual science, we investigated whether such capabilities may be enhanced among astronomers. Here we examined the visuospatial abilities of 30 astrophysicists with and without a reading impairment, and compared their response with those of 74 high school students (novices). The task involved the analysis of simulated microwave spectra. (The angular span of the spectra was varied as a condition in the experiment.) As expected, the professional astrophysicists outperformed the novices, but while the performance of novices deteriorated as the span angle was broadened, performance improved in the experts. Notably, this contrast between expert and novice was especially pronounced in the scientists with a reading impairment, suggesting that those with a reading impairment may use different strategies for visual processing. (No such effects of reading impairment were observed in the novices.) In a second study, we administered a survey [Lefly Pennington(2000)] examining the incidence of reading impairment among 148 professional astrophysicists at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and 75 similarly accomplished academics at the Harvard Business School (HBS), selected at random. We found that, depending on the criteria used for reading impairment, the incidence of reading impairment is considerably higher among astronomy professionals compared with academics in business. Together, these studies suggest that astrophysics is a profession favorable to those with a reading impairment.