Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Dec;48(12):4193-4206.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3675-x.

Exploratory Study of Executive Function Abilities Across the Adult Lifespan in Individuals Receiving an ASD Diagnosis in Adulthood

Patricia Abbott  1 , Francesca G Happé  2 , Rebecca A Charlton  3
Affiliations

Exploratory Study of Executive Function Abilities Across the Adult Lifespan in Individuals Receiving an ASD Diagnosis in Adulthood

Patricia Abbott et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

Little is known about cognition in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across adulthood. We examined executive function abilities and autism traits in 134 adults receiving a first diagnosis of ASD. Participants aged 18-75 years with abilities in the normal range were assessed on executive function and self-report autism traits. Results suggest that for some abilities relying on speed and sequencing (Trails A and B; Digit Symbol), late-diagnosed individuals with ASD may demonstrate better performance than typical age-norms. On other executive measures (Digit Span, Hayling and Brixton tests) age-related correlations were similar to typical age-norms. Different domains of executive function may demonstrate different trajectories for ageing with ASD, with patterns of slower, accelerated or equivalent age-related change being observed across different measures.

Keywords: Ageing; Autism spectrum disorders; Cognition; Executive function; Lifespan.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Scatterplots showing correlations between age and Digit Symbol, Trails A and Trails B
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Correlation between mean EF percentile and self-report AQ scores for males and females
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ambery FZ, Russell AJ, Perry K, Morris R, Murphy DGM. Neuropsychological functioning in adults with Asperger syndrome. Autism. 2006;10:551–564. doi: 10.1177/1362361306068507. - DOI - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 3. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing; 1980.
    1. Amieva H, Phillips L, Sala SD. Behavioral dysexecutive symptoms in normal aging. Brain and Cognition. 2003;53:129–132. doi: 10.1016/S0278-2626(03)00094-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Army Individual Test Battery . The trail making test: Manual of directions and scoring. Washingon, DC, USA: War Department, Adjutant General’s Office; 1944.
    1. Baltes PB, Lindenberger U. Emergence of a powerful connection between sensory and cognitive functions across the adult life span: A new window to the study of cognitive aging? Psychology & Aging. 1997;12:12–21. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.12.1.12. - DOI - PubMed