Executive Functioning in 60+ Autistic Males: The Discrepancy Between Experienced Challenges and Cognitive Performance

Geurts, Hilde M.; Pol, S. E.; Lobbestael, Jill; Simons, Claudia

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04368-9

Cited by 30 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Furthermore, we used Bayesian replication analyses (Ly, Etz, Marsman, & Wagenmakers, 2019;Verhagen & Wagenmakers, 2014), which uses the data from the original study as a prior for the current results -maximizing the use of prior knowledge. Based on the previous study by Lever and colleagues (Lever & Geurts, 2016;Lever et al, 2015), and studies with older adult samples (Davids, Groen, Berg, Tucha, & van Balkom, 2016;Geurts, Pol, Lobbestael, & Simons, 2020;Geurts & Vissers, 2012;Tse et al, 2019) we expected: (1) worse performance of ASC than comparisons on ToM, fluency, and processing speed, better performance of ASC than comparisons on visual memory, and equal performance on visual working memory (2) either a similar relation with age (verbal memory, fluency and processing speed) or a smaller negative relation with age (visual memory, working memory and ToM) for ASC than comparisons.…”

Section: Lay Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Torenvliet¹,

Groenman²,

Radhoe³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Findings on age-related effects on cognition in autism spectrum conditions (ASC) in adulthood are ambiguous across studies. As these studies substantially differ in their methodology, replication studies are needed. In this replication study we used frequentist and Bayesian analyses to investigate the hypothesis that in autistic adults compared to non-autistic adults we see mostly parallel, but also protective age-related cognitive effects. Participants were 88 autistic adults, and 88 non-autistic matched comparisons (age range: 30-89 years). Cognitive measures were administered on the following six domains: verbal memory, visual memory, working memory, Theory of Mind (ToM), verbal fluency, and processing speed, and self-reported cognitive failures. We observed that non-autistic adults outperformed autistic adults on ToM, verbal fluency, and verbal memory, but only the first two were confirmed with Bayesian replication analyses. Also, more cognitive failures were reported by autistic adults. No interactions between group and age were observed, suggesting a parallel age-related effect on all cognitive domains. In sum, we replicated earlier observed difficulties in ToM and verbal fluency which seem to persist at older age. Also, we replicate the previously reported parallel age-related cognitive patterns, but found no evidence for protective age-related patterns.

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Section: Lay Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Torenvliet¹,

Groenman²,

Radhoe³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…18,19 While the standard U.S. Census demographic criteria for older adulthood use a threshold of 65 years of age, important variability, heterogeneity, and age-related change exist within this age group. [20][21][22][23] Autism is associated with important age-related variables such as physical health, [24][25][26][27] cognitive performance, 28,29 and psychological well-being. [30][31][32][33][34][35] In addition to their implications for overall quality of life, these challenges have ancillary impacts on families and caregivers, a significant financial impact, and the potential to create greater risk of acute and chronic disease burden across the life span.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship of Age with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale in a Large Sample of Adults

Lodi‐Smith

Rodgers

Luna

et al. 2021

Autism in Adulthood

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Background: The historical focus on autism as a childhood disorder means that evidence regarding autism in adulthood lags significantly behind research in other age groups. Emerging studies on the relationship of age with autism characteristics do not target older adult samples, which presents a barrier to studying the important variability that exists in life span developmental research. This study aims to further our understanding of the relationship between the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale and age in a large adult sample. Methods: The present study examines the relationship of Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale (AQ) scores with age in 1139 adults, ages 18-97 years. Participants came from three distinct samples-a sample of primarily students, a sample of MTurk participants, and a sample of primarily community dwelling older adults. The majority of the participants did not self-report an autism diagnosis (91%), were female (67%), and identified as White (81%). Participants completed the AQ primarily via online surveys. Researchers scored the AQ following six common scoring practices. Results: Results of preregistered analyses indicate that autism characteristics measured by the AQ are not strongly associated with age (r values from -0.01 to -0.11). Further findings indicate that the measurement of autism characteristics is consistent across age into late life using both multiple groups and local structural equation modeling approaches to measurement invariance (comparative fit indices = 0.82-0.83, root mean square error = 0.06) as well as reliability analysis. Finally, demographic and autism-related variables (sex, race, self-identified autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, and degree of autism characteristics) did not moderate the relationship between age and autism characteristics. Conclusion: These results suggest that self-reports of autism characteristics using the AQ do not vary strongly by age in this large age-representative sample. Findings suggest that the AQ can potentially serve as a useful tool for future research on autism across the life span. Important limitations on what we can learn from these findings point toward critical avenues for future research in this area.

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“…In studies including autistic children, typically medium effect sizes are observed and performance differences are apparent across a broader range of cognitive domains [16]. Moreover, independent empirical studies including old autistic individuals recently reported similar findings as Lever and colleagues observed [17,18]. So, in sharp contrast to the dominant hypothesis, these novel findings suggest that with increasing age, the cognitive differences between autistic adults and non-autistic adults become less pronounced.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Protocol paper Aging & Autism Geurts ea

Geurts¹,

Ja²,

Radhoe³

et al. 2021

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Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) develop early in life and are thought to last a lifetime. However, ASC research has two major knowledge gaps that hinder progression in understanding the concept of ASC and in providing proper support for autistic adults: 1) the majority of knowledge about ASC mainly stems from childhood studies so little is known about older autistic adults; 2) while it is broadly recognized that ASC is a heterogeneous condition, we do not yet understand the differences in trajectories leading to their future outcome. We aim to fill both knowledge gaps.A multistage overlapping cohorts design assessing (cognitive) aging in ASC, is designed to obtain an accelerated longitudinal dataset. Data, including a multitude of questionnaires, diagnostics, and cognitive tests, are collected over four waves within a 10-year time frame. This will provide information regarding actual changes in quality of life, co-occurring health conditions, and cognition as well as the possibility to test external validity and temporal stability in newly formed behavioral subtypes. Participants consist of three groups of adults aged 20 to 90 years: 1) with a clinical diagnosis of ASC; 2) with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, but no ASC; 3) no ASC/ADHD (i.e., comparison group; COM). The sample size differs between waves and instruments. Detailed analysis plans will be preregistered in AsPredicted or at the Open Science Framework. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the ethical review board of the Department of Psychology of the University of Amsterdam (Wave 1 2011-PN-1952 and 2013-PN-2668, Wave 2 2015-BC-4270, Wave 3 and 4 2018-BC-9285). In line with the funding policies of the grant organization funding this study, future papers will be published open access.

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Executive Functioning in 60+ Autistic Males: The Discrepancy Between Experienced Challenges and Cognitive Performance

Cited by 30 publications

References 38 publications

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

The Relationship of Age with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale in a Large Sample of Adults

Protocol paper Aging & Autism Geurts ea

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Executive Functioning in 60+ Autistic Males: The Discrepancy Between Experienced Challenges and Cognitive Performance

Cited by 30 publications

References 38 publications

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

Parallel Age-Related Cognitive Effects in Autism: A Cross-Sectional Replication Study

The Relationship of Age with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Scale in a Large Sample of Adults

Protocol paper Aging &amp; Autism Geurts ea

Contact Info

Product

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Protocol paper Aging & Autism Geurts ea