Inhibitory control in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Impairments in executive abilities such as cognitive flexibility have been identified in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It remains unclear, however, whether such individuals also experience impairments in another executive ability: inhibitory control. In the present study, we administered three inhibitory tasks to 18 children with ASD, 23 siblings of children with ASD, and 25 typically developing children. After controlling for individual differences in age, overall IQ, and processing speed, children with ASD demonstrated impaired performance on two of the three inhibitory tasks. Results suggest that children with ASD experience circumscribed deficits in some but not all aspects of inhibitory control. More generally, the findings underscore the importance of using multiple measures to assess a putative single cognitive ability.