The Influence of task Demands, Verbal Ability and Executive Functions on Item and Source Memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Semino, Sara; Ring, Melanie; Bowler, Dermot; Gaigg, Sebastian

doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3299-6

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…), employers’ ratings were based on more than memory specificity, as opposed to the ABM study. Overall, it could therefore be suggested that both studies analysed here may be generally more supportive than other previous studies of episodic recall in autism, even in the designated ‘unsupportive’ conditions (see Semino et al, 2018, for similar findings for object recognition and source memory). It is therefore possible that our paradigms were already sufficiently supportive, reducing the necessity to recruit executive functions during recall, including for example the overall limited use of open questions, the provision of printed question sets (in the employment interviews supportive condition) and clear recall parameters for participants (V-VP diagram in the ABM supportive condition).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Supporting autistic adults’ episodic memory recall in interviews: The role of executive functions, theory of mind, and language abilities

Norris

Maras

2021

Autism

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Autistic people have difficulties recalling episodic memories, including retrieving fewer or less specific and detailed memories compared to typically developing people. However, the ability to effectively recall episodic memories is crucial in many real-world contexts, such as the criminal justice system, medical consultations, and employment interviews. Autistic people’s episodic memory difficulties are most apparent when open, unsupportive questions are used. The ‘Task Support Hypothesis’ posits that autistic people can recall as much information as typically developing people with more supportive questioning. Alongside problems retrieving episodic memories, autistic people also experience difficulties with executive functioning, theory of mind, and expressive language. The current study aimed to assess the impact of these abilities on recall in two previous studies by the authors that compared autistic and typically developing adults on recall specificity in police, healthcare, and employment interviews, and recall quality in employment interviews under unsupported and supported questioning. Under unsupported questioning only, autistic adults’ episodic autobiographical memory recall specificity was predicted by expressive language, whereas for the typically developing group, only theory of mind was a significant predictor. No other predictors were significant across the study. Implications for the task support hypothesis are discussed. Lay abstract Autistic people have difficulties recalling episodic memories (memories of specific events) compared to typically developing people. However, being able to effectively recall such memories is important in many real-world situations, for example, in police interviews, during medical consultations, and in employment interviews. Autistic people’s episodic memory difficulties are most noticeable when they are responding to open, unsupportive questions. However, the ‘Task Support Hypothesis’ indicates that autistic people are able to recall as much information as typically developing people, as long as they are asked more supportive questions. Autistic people also experience difficulties with executive functioning (cognitive abilities which allow us to plan, hold information in mind, inhibit interruptions, etc.), theory of mind (the ability to understand others’ perspectives and intentions), and spoken language. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of these cognitive abilities on memory recall in two previous studies which compared autistic and typically developing adults on how specific their recall was in police, healthcare, and employment interviews, and the quality of responses during an employment interview when both unsupportive and supportive questioning was used. The results show that while typically developing people may rely on theory of mind abilities, autistic people may rely more on language abilities when performing in interviews, potentially to compensate for their episodic memory difficulties, and that this effect is most apparent during more unsupportive recall (e.g. when a brief, open question is asked) compared to when open questions are followed by prompts (e.g. ‘tell me about who as there’, ‘what happened?’, etc.).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Supporting autistic adults’ episodic memory recall in interviews: The role of executive functions, theory of mind, and language abilities

Norris

Maras

2021

Autism

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“…Understanding the mechanism behind ASD memory difficulties could be the basis for building strategies to support the different impaired domains (Semino, Ring, Bowler, & Gaigg, 2018). Since several aspects of visuospatial processing have been found to be preserved in children with ASD, interventions based on vision have been developed to support these children in different areas (Schopler, Mesibov, & Hearsey, 1995;Ganz, 2007).…”

Section: Visual Memory Profile In Children With High-functioning Autismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual memory profile in children with high functioning autism

Semino

Zanobini

Usai

2019

Applied Neuropsychology: Child

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Visual memory in children with high-functioning autism (HFA) is an area of debate. According to the few studies that have examined visual memory in children with autism, the memory profile appears to vary according to the memory process and type of stimuli, and contrasting results may be found. This study aims to analyse the visual memory profile of children with HFA. Fifteen children with HFA (mean age 9;6) and 15 typically developing children (TD; mean age 9;2) matched by chronological age and Leiter-R Brief IQ score took part in the study. Associative and recognition memory as well as visuospatial working memory were assessed. Impairments in face recognition and forward memory were found, whereas associative memory and shape recognition were preserved. The memory profile in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) showed relatively stronger abilities in associative memory than in the other visual memory domains. The results support the hypothesis that the level of stimulus processing may influence memory performance by having a large impact on tasks and stimuli that require access to a semantic or global level of processing. In contrast to the TD population, children with ASD may have difficulty extracting underlying regularities from experiences and generalizing that information.

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“…Bennetto et al 1996 ; Bigham et al 2010 ; Gaigg et al 2014 ; Minshew and Goldstein 1993 ; Ring et al 2016 ), spatial (e.g. Bowler et al 2014 , 2004 ; Cooper et al 2015 ; Ring et al 2015 , 2016 ; Semino et al 2017 ) or other types of context information (e.g. Hala et al 2005 ; Lopez and Leekam 2003 ; Maister et al 2013 ; O’Shea et al 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allocentric Versus Egocentric Spatial Memory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Ring

Gaigg

Altgassen

et al. 2018

J Autism Dev Disord

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Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present difficulties in forming relations among items and context. This capacity for relational binding is also involved in spatial navigation and research on this topic in ASD is scarce and inconclusive. Using a computerised version of the Morris Water Maze task, ASD participants showed particular difficulties in performing viewpoint independent (allocentric) navigation, leaving viewpoint dependent navigation (egocentric) intact. Further analyses showed that navigation deficits were not related to poor visual short-term memory or mental rotation in the ASD group. The results further confirm the need of autistic individuals for support at retrieval and have important implications for the design of signposts and maps.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10803-018-3465-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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The Influence of task Demands, Verbal Ability and Executive Functions on Item and Source Memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Cited by 9 publications

References 93 publications

Supporting autistic adults’ episodic memory recall in interviews: The role of executive functions, theory of mind, and language abilities

Supporting autistic adults’ episodic memory recall in interviews: The role of executive functions, theory of mind, and language abilities

Visual memory profile in children with high functioning autism

Allocentric Versus Egocentric Spatial Memory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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