Memory for emotionally arousing events over time in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. In press with Emotion Permanent repository link:Memory for arousing events in ASD 2 AbstractEmotionally arousing events are typically better remembered and more resistant to forgetting than neutral events. Findings from word list paradigms suggest that this may not hold for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who also tend to be less accurate as eyewitnesses under some circumstances. To test whether attenuated effects of arousal on memory may be responsible for poorer eyewitness testimonies in ASD, we asked adults with and without the disorder to view either arousing or neutral versions of a narrated slide sequence (Experiment 1) or video clip (Experiment 2) before assessing their memory for the material. Both groups exhibited increases in psychophysiological arousal during the arousing as compared to the neutral version of the narratives, and both groups also demonstrated a memory advantage for the arousing events. Contrary to predictions, these observations indicate that stimulus induced arousal modulates memory for naturalistic events relatively typically in ASD. It is now well established that emotionally arousing events are better remembered and less likely forgotten than equivalent neutral events (e.g. Bornstein, Liebel, & Scarberry, 1998;Christianson & Loftus, 1991;Christianson, 1992; Heuer & Resiberg, 1990). Witnessed criminal events are often emotionally arousing, and witnesses can be asked by the police and other legal officials to recall what they have seen on a number of occasions, ranging from immediately after witnessing the event to days, months, or even years later. Maras and Bowler (2010) recently found that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were significantly less accurate in their eyewitness reports for a negative emotional event than comparison individuals when interviewed with a Cognitive Interview (Fisher & Geiselman, 1992). Here we ask whether the inaccuracies in eyewitness reports in ASD may be the result of abnormalities in how the emotional nature of criminal events modulates memory in this disorder.Autism Spectrum Disorder is a set of pervasive developmental conditions that are clinically defined by abnormalities in reciprocal social and communicative behaviours and an inflexible adherence to routinised patterns of thought and behaviour (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). ASD affects approximately 1% of the population but a number of risk factors indicate that individuals with ASD may be over-represented within the Criminal Justice System either as witnesses or victims of crime (Hare, Gould, Mills & Wing, 1999;Petersilia, 2001). For example their diminished insight into what others are thinking can lead to exploitation by others (Howlin, 1997) and their repetitive and stereotyped interests can lead them to frequent places (e.g. train stations) where crimes are more common (Allen, Evans, Hider, Hawkins, Peckett & Morgan, 2008). This lit...

Perception of Life as Stressful, Not Biological Response to Stress, is Associated with Greater Social Disability in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The greater increase in SBP reactivity is consistent with the increased perception of stress given high correlations between systolic blood pressure and perceived stress identified in extant literature (Manuck 1994; Cohen et al 2000). The remainder of the findings suggests that some aspects of biological stress response of adults with ASD is comparable to typical adult community volunteers (e.g., Maras & Bowler, 2012; Maras et al, 2012; Mathersul et al, 2013). However, of note, descriptive data adds to the body of research that indicates that individuals with ASD have resting heart rates that are significantly higher than typical community volunteers.…”

“…In addition, adults with ASD experience more stress and anxiety than adults with intellectual disabilities (Gillott and Standen 2007). This research also identified associations between higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of social functioning (Bishop-Fitzpatrick et al 2015), between higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of quality of life (Hong et al 2016), and between higher levels of perceived stress and greater levels of autism symptomatology (Maras et al 2012). Taken together, this research on stress in ASD suggests that impaired stress mechanisms may be intrinsic deficits in ASD that have not been previously considered.…”

“…Recent findings indicate that children with ASD experience heightened biological response patterns to stressors compared to typical community volunteers, although results vary across studies (for review, see: Lydon et al 2014). Of note, studies that use naturalistic stressor tasks in children with ASD (e.g., conversation; Klusek et al 2013) and studies that focus on purely adult samples with ASD (e.g., Maras and Bowler 2012; Maras et al 2012; Mathersul et al 2013) have found similar biological responses to stress in individuals with ASD and typical community volunteers.…”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Self‐Administered Interview© for Witnesses with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…It appears that delivering these instructions in the SAI format did not alleviate any difficulties caused by the reduced influence of emotion on memory in ASD (e.g., Deruelle, Hubert, Santos & Wicker, 2008;, but see Maras, Gaigg & Bowler, 2012). Further work is also needed to identify potential benefits of externally imposed subject foci that might act as scaffolding and, therefore, be supportive.…”

Emotionally negative pictures enhance gist memory.

“…Researchers have found evidence of an emotional enhancement of memory for emotional content as compared to neutral content for stimuli that range from words to pictures to videos (e.g., Budson, Todman, Chong, Adams, Kensinger, Krangel, & Wright, 2006; Charles, Mather, & Carstensen, 2003; Maras, Gaigg, & Bowler, 2012). Further, in some of these studies emotion increased false memory compared to nonemotional stimuli.…”