ERP correlates of recognition memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Massand et al. (2013) wired up adults with autism and neurotypical peers to EEG caps. Everyone looked at pictures they had or had not seen before. The team tracked two brain waves tied to recognition: the parietal old/new effect and the right-frontal old/new effect.

The goal was simple. If both groups picked the old pictures equally well, would their brain routes look the same?

Accuracy was a tie. Both groups chose the old pictures about equally often. Yet the ERP maps told a different story.

Autistic adults started the parietal effect later and almost lost the right-frontal effect. Same score, different brain commute.

Ring et al. (2020) saw a similar split using pupil size instead of EEG. Their autistic adults actually scored worse on recognition and lacked the usual pupil old/new bounce. Together the papers show the memory circuit is off track in ASD, whether you watch electricity or blood-flow related pupils.

Older work set the stage. Nevin et al. (2005) found a weak N4 semantic wave in autistic kids, hinting that ERP timing can be off even when words are eventually understood. Zigler et al. (1989) first reported smaller P3b and Nc waves in high-functioning autism, previewing that attention and memory voltages run low.

The pattern is clear: surface accuracy can hide detoured brain paths.

For BCBAs, good recall on a label or sight-word program does not guarantee typical memory wiring. If a learner masters items but needs extra trials or shows delayed latency, the ERP work says the difference may be neural, not attentional. Build in extra review cycles and use varied contexts to strengthen weaker frontal-parietal routes. When accuracy stalls, swap to easier items instead of repeating the same prompt; the brain may simply need a lower load to register the old/new signal.