Resumen de A Comparison of Gifted Children and Children With Low: Average, and Above-Average Cognitive Abilities in Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Primary School Context

H. Elise Samsen-Bronsveld, Anouke W. E. A. Bakx, Stefan Bogaerts, Sanne H. G. Van der Ven

• High sensitivity is often considered a characteristic of giftedness, but scientific evidence for this is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether gifted children rate themselves higher in sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) than their peers. A total of 882 children from Grades 4, 5, and 6 of primary school participated. They all completed a cognitive ability test (COVAT-3) and two self-report questionnaires to assess SPS (HSC scale and ChiSSEQ). The results revealed that the 10% best-performing children on the cognitive ability test did not differ significantly from their peers in SPS. There was one exception: Only on the HSC scale did children with high cognitive abilities score higher than those with low abilities (not higher than those with average and above-average abilities). However, this difference disappeared when applying stricter cut-offs to define high cognitive abilities.