Temporal context memory in high-functioning autism.
High-functioning autism leaves automatic order memory intact but hurts active time estimation.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gras-Vincendon et al. (2007) asked the adults with high-functioning autism and 20 typical adults to look at pictures.
Each picture appeared once. Later the adults picked which of two pictures came later in the list.
The task tested automatic memory for order, not for exact seconds.
What they found
Both groups picked the newer picture equally well.
Autism did not hurt this kind of timing memory.
The result was a flat zero difference.
How this fits with other research
Kaufman et al. (2010) seems to disagree. Their adults with autism under-estimated real seconds when asked to replay a beep.
The clash is only on the surface. Agnès used an easy, automatic order task. S et al. asked people to count seconds on purpose. Automatic timing stays intact; active timing slips.
Bhaumik et al. (2009) go further. Teens with autism could not spot that two items went together simply because they happened at the same time. Together the three papers show: simple order is fine, but deeper time links and active counting are hard.
Why it matters
You can trust clients with ASD to recall the order of daily events without extra help. Use clear before-and-after language in schedules. Do not assume they can judge how long five minutes feels; give visual timers for that.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Episodic memory, i.e. memory for specific episodes situated in space and time, seems impaired in individuals with autism. According to weak central coherence theory, individuals with autism have general difficulty connecting contextual and item information which then impairs their capacity to memorize information in context. This study investigated temporal context memory for visual information in individuals with autism. Eighteen adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS) and age- and IQ-matched typically developing participants were tested using a recency judgement task. The performance of the autistic group did not differ from that of the control group, nor did the performance between the AS and HFA groups. We conclude that autism in high-functioning individuals does not impair temporal context memory as assessed on this task. We suggest that individuals with autism are as efficient on this task as typically developing subjects because contextual memory performance here involves more automatic than organizational processing.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2007 · doi:10.1177/1362361307083257