Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Dimension-Change Card Sort Task

Dichter, Gabriel S.; Radonovich, Krestin J.; Turner‐Brown, Lauren; Lam, Kristen S. L.; Holtzclaw, Tia N.; Bodfish, James W.

doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0886-1

Cited by 48 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This result is consistent with previous findings [31,32] . Our result might suggest that cognitive flexibility measured by the WCST does not reflect social adaptation in the real world.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Cognitive inflexibility in Japanese adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders

Yasuda¹

2014

WJP

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AIM:To investigate executive function in Japanese adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to Japanese controls. METHODS:Thirty-three individuals with ASD and 33 controls participated. The ASD and control groups' demographic variables were matched for gender (male/ female: 20/13 vs 20/13), age (26.1 ± 11.5 vs 26.8 ± 9.6), years of education (13.2 ± 2.9 vs 14.2 ± 1.9), full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) (103.0 ± 16.7 vs 103.7 ± 14.7), performance IQ (96.2 ± 16.1 vs 97.8 ± 15.0), and verbal IQ (107.9 ± 16.3 vs 107.7 ± 14.4).Participants performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), which assesses the executive processes involved in problem solving and cognitive flexibility, and the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), which assesses attention and impulsivity. Symptoms were assessed by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Japanese version (AQ-J). First, we compared the scores of the WCST between the groups using a Mann-Whitney U -test and conducted an analysis of covariance for the variables with the scores of category archives and CPT scores as covariates. Second, we analyzed the correlation between the scores of the WCST and the AQ-J in the ASD group using Pearson's r. RESULTS:The total errors (TE) and the percentages of perseverative errors of the Milner type (%PEM) and Nelson type (%PEN) among the TE in the ASD group were significantly worse compared with the control group (ASD vs Control, respectively: TE: 16.0 ± 6.2 vs 12.6 ± 3.5, P = 0.012; %PEM: 11.7 ± 10.7 vs 6.6 ± 8.9, P = 0.037; %PEN: 20.1 ± 14.5 vs 8.7 ± 10.4, P = 0.0011). In contrast, no significant difference was observed between the two groups in the scores of categories achieved on the WCST or the CPT. An analysis of covariance revealed significant differences between the groups in the %PEN scores (P = 0.0062) but not in the TE or the %PEM scores. These results suggest that Japanese adolescents and adults with ASD have cognitive inflexibility. Furthermore, our results suggest that Japanese adolescents and adults with ASD may have difficulties using negative feedback because perseverative errors of the Nelson type indicate persistence in choosing the incorrect reaction. By contrast, there was no significant correlation between the WCST and AQ-J scores. CASE CONTROL STUDY CONCLUSION:We confirmed the presence of cognitive inflexibility in Japanese adolescents and adults with ASD. Our results also indicated that subjects with ASD may not use negative feedback effectively. Core tip: We investigated executive function (EF) in Japanese adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to strictly matched controls. EF was assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. To exclude confounding factors, the participants were matched for gender, age, years of education, fullscale intelligence quotient (IQ), performance IQ, verbal IQ, and attention level. Symptoms were assessed by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient Japanese version. We confirm that Japanese adolescents and adults with ASD have cognitive inflexibilit...

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“…This result is consistent with previous findings [31,32] . Our result might suggest that cognitive flexibility measured by the WCST does not reflect social adaptation in the real world.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Cognitive inflexibility in Japanese adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders

Yasuda¹

2014

WJP

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“…Specifically, ASD participants showed slower RT overall on the Detection and Identification tasks with medium effect sizes; after controlling for these effects, the ASD and NT groups did not show differing RT on either the Navon or visual search tasks, nor did the difference in RT between shift and nonshift trials differ between the groups on either task. This is consistent with previous findings that on some measures of executive attention or set shifting, those with ASD do not show impaired performance as compared to NT (Corbett et al, 2009;Dichter et al, 2010;Hayward et al, 2012;Poljac et al, 2010;Stahl & Pry, 2002). The lack of group differences on a measure of executive attention at the level of preattention, specifically that participants with ASD were not faster than NT, is inconsistent with previous findings of faster visual search times in participants with ASD than in those with NT (Joseph, Keehn, Connolly, Wolfe, & Horowitz, 2009;Kemner, van Ewijk, van Engeland, & Hooge, 2008;O'Riordan, 2000;, though some previous research has failed to find faster feature search times in children with ASD (Plaisted et al, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…However, there is mixed evidence for difficulty with task switching on another measure of set shifting, the Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift Test, with some studies finding impaired performance in ASD (Ozonoff et al, 2004;Yerys et al, 2009) and others finding no impairment (Corbett, Constantine, Hendren, Rocke, & Ozonoff, 2009;Happé, Booth, Charlton, & Hughes, 2006). Other modified measures of set shifting have not found evidence for set-shifting deficits in ASD (Dichter et al, 2010;Poljac et al, 2010). Particularly notable is a finding that performance on a modified set-shifting task in preschoolage children with ASD was not impaired, but was also not correlated with joint attention skills as it was in neurotypical (NT) controls (Stahl & Pry, 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual attention shifting in autism spectrum disorders

Richard

Lajiness-O’Neill

2015

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology

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“…Two more tools have been used in the form of the DCCS and Set-Shifting tasks, confirming previous results, in which children with ASD performed significantly worse than TD children (Pellicano et al, 2006;Dichter et al, 2010;Pellicano, 2010a).…”

Section: Cognitive Flexibilitysupporting

confidence: 83%

Application of the Theory of Mind, Theory of Executive Functions and Weak Central Coherence Theory to Individuals with ASD

Delli¹,

Varveris²,

Geronta³

2016

JEDP

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The present study examined the application of three cognitive theories-the Theory of Mind (ToM) deficit, the Theory of Executive Functions (EF) and Weak Central Coherence Theory (WCC)-in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). 9 children with ASD and 18 children of Typical Development (TD) participated in the study. According to the results, most of the children with ASD showed significant deficits in the development of ToM, while a few of them succeeded in all the ToM tests. With regard to EF theory, the children with ASD did not present a deficit in any of the four executive functions in which they were examined, since their performances were similar to those of TD children. As for the WCC theory, the results cannot support the existence of a deficit. However, it seems that children with ASD struggle in respect of global precedence when a local interference effect is present.

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Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Dimension-Change Card Sort Task

Cited by 48 publications

References 48 publications

Cognitive inflexibility in Japanese adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders

Cognitive inflexibility in Japanese adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders

Visual attention shifting in autism spectrum disorders

Application of the Theory of Mind, Theory of Executive Functions and Weak Central Coherence Theory to Individuals with ASD

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