Divided attention capacity in adults with autism spectrum disorders and without intellectual disability.
High-functioning adults with autism can track two things at once—slowdowns are decision issues, not attention limits.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Bogte et al. (2009) tested divided attention in adults with autism who had average or higher IQ.
They gave two tasks at once and watched who slowed down.
Some adults took daily meds, others did not.
What they found
Most adults with autism handled the double task as well as anyone.
Only the medicated group took longer to pick answers when both tasks got hard.
The study says the delay is in deciding, not in paying attention.
How this fits with other research
Fahmie et al. (2013) ran a similar lab test and also saw slower answers, yet the attention system itself worked fine.
Together the two papers show the same pattern: attention is intact, speed is not.
Williams et al. (2010) looked at a quick-blink timing task and found no timing gap either, so the slowdown is not about basic clock-like attention.
Remington et al. (2012) adds a twist: adults with autism could ignore face pictures when the load was high, while typical adults kept getting pulled.
That finding seems opposite, but it fits—when the task is social, people with autism can shut it out and stay on goal.
Why it matters
Do not cut job or college tasks in half for high-functioning clients.
Instead, give extra decision time or cut extra choices.
If the client is on meds, plan brief pause breaks before key choices.
Teach self-pacing, not task-splitting.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Earlier research showed that divided attention, an aspect of executive function, is limited in both children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The current study explored divided attention capacity in adults with ASD and without intellectual disability (n = 36). Divided attention was tested using a computerized variant of a well-known memory recognition test, with two levels of cognitive load. The effect of cognitive load on reaction time performance is considered to be inversely proportional to divided attention capacity. The study failed to provide a relationship between divided attention and ASD, contrary to earlier research. Findings indicated that only the adults with ASD who used medication had a divided attention deficit, and that this group had specific difficulty reaching a binary decision in a memory search task. An additional finding was that the participants with ASD were overall slow. Possible causes and implications of these findings are discussed.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2009 · doi:10.1177/1362361309103793