Proactive control in adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorder: Unimpaired but associated with symptoms of depression

Abstract

Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in cognitive control, our previous work has shown that preparatory, goal-directed cognitive processing (proactive control) may be preserved in children with ASD. We investigated whether proactive control is intact in adolescents and young adults with ASD, as well as how symptoms of ASD (repetitive behaviors) and psychopathology (Depressive, Anxiety, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Problems) are related to proactive control. Participants were adolescents and young adults with ASD (N = 44) and typical development (TD; N = 44). Proactive control was assessed using a picture-word Stroop paradigm where participants named animals depicted in drawings while ignoring a superimposed written animal word. Interference effects (reaction time (RT) differences between more difficult incongruent trials, where animal pictures and words prompted different responses, and simpler congruent trials, where animal pictures and words prompted the same response) were calculated for two versions of the Stroop Task: a mostly congruent (MC) block, where the majority of trials were congruent, and a mostly incongruent (MI) block, where most trials were incongruent. Proactive control was calculated as the reduction in interference in the MI block in comparison to the MC block. Proactive control did not differ between groups, indicating that proactive control is not impaired in adolescents and young adults with ASD. In ASD, depression symptoms were associated with reduced proactive control. Future research should investigate the effects of interventions targeting depression as well as interventions targeting proactive control processes in individuals with ASD and comorbid depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1.

ASD and TD show evidence of proactive control in the Stroop Task. (A) Example of congruent and incongruent stimuli. Participants were instructed to verbally name the animal pictured. (B) Trials counts are shown for the MC and MI blocks. In both blocks, there were biased items and PC-50 items. (C) Interference effects (incongruent– congruent RT) are displayed. There were no group differences in reduction in interference for the MI block compared to the MC block (proactive control). However, both ASD and TD had a significant proactive control effect. (D). There were no between group differences when interference effects for the MC and MI blocks were analyzed separately. Both ASD and TD showed significant interference effects (incongruent trials slower than congruent trials) in both blocks. Note: For C and D, data is displayed for PC-50 items. ASD=Autism Spectrum Disorder; TD=Typical Development; MC=Mostly Congruent; MI=Mostly Incongruent; PC-50 = Proportion Congruent-50; RT=reaction time ***p<.001

Figure 2.

Relationship between Stroop Task Performance and ASEBA Depressive Problems. (A) For the ASD group, proactive control was lower in individuals with greater Depressive Problems. (B) Depressive Problems were associated with higher interference in the MI block, but not the MC block. Note: For ASEBA data, analyses were conducted on age-adjusted T-scores. ASEBA=Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment; ASD=Autism Spectrum Disorder; MC=Mostly Congruent; MI=Mostly Incongruent