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. 2018 Jan;48(1):184-197.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3299-6.

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

Sara Semino  1 , Melanie Ring  2 , Dermot M Bowler  3 , Sebastian B Gaigg  4
Affiliations

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

Sara Semino et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is generally associated with difficulties in contextual source memory but not single item memory. There are surprising inconsistencies in the literature, however, that the current study seeks to address by examining item and source memory in age and ability matched groups of 22 ASD and 21 comparison adults. Results show that group differences in source memory are moderated by task demands but not by individual differences in verbal ability, executive function or item memory. By contrast, unexpected group differences in item memory could largely be explained by individual differences in source memory. These observations shed light on the factors underlying inconsistent findings in the memory literature in ASD, which has important implications for theory and practice.

Keywords: Autism; Executive function; Item memory; Recollection; Source memory; Verbal ability.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Sara Semino, Melanie Ring, Dermot Bowler & Sebastian Gaigg all declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures in this study were approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee of City, University of London, in accordance with the ethical standards of the British Psychological Society and the 1964 declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overview of the experimental procedures. a illustrates the sequence of events during the study phase of an 8-location condition. For a 4-location condition only the corner locations were shown. b Summarises the recognition test procedure. Participants were first asked to decide if they had (yes) or had not (no) seen an object in the study phase. If they responded with ‘no’, the next object was shown. Otherwise they were asked to choose the location in which the object had been presented. (Color figure online)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Proportion of correctly identified source locations for the ASD (grey) and TD (black) groups as a function of the number of source locations (4 vs. 8 Locs.) and objects (16 vs. 32 Obj.). Error bars represent +/− 1 SE and the inset values represent Cohen’s d effect sizes for the relevant between group and within group comparisons
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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