Development of Episodic Memory and Foresight in High-Functioning Preschoolers with ASD.
High-functioning preschoolers with autism lag in both remembering sources and planning ahead, so flag sources and rehearse future moments in session.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Naito et al. (2020) watched high-functioning preschoolers with autism and typical peers.
They tested two things: remembering where you learned something and guessing when to act later.
Kids were six years old when final checks were made.
What they found
The autism group forgot the source of new facts more often.
They also never picked the right moment to act in a later game.
Memory scores and planning scores did not link up in the autism group.
How this fits with other research
Hsieh et al. (2014) first showed this foresight gap in preschool autism; Mika adds that source memory is weak too.
Dunphy-Lelii et al. (2012) saw intact mirror self-recognition in autistic preschoolers, so the kids know “me” now but still forget where info came from. The tasks differ: one asks “Who told you?” while the other asks “Is that you in the photo?”
Godfrey et al. (2023) followed autistic youth into adulthood and found the same forgetting plus failure to use story themes. The trouble starts early and stays.
Why it matters
You can start early. When you teach a new rule, tag the source out loud: “Mom said...” or “Teacher showed...”. Use visual cues such as color-coded cards to mark who gave the cue. For future plans, practice timed scripts: “When the bell rings, then we line up.” Rehearse the moment, not just the action. These small boosts may shore up memory and foresight before school demands hit.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To investigate the early development of episodic memory and future thinking in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we selected 94 participants each from a group of ASD and typically developing (TD) preschoolers. They were required to remember newly-acquired knowledge sources and anticipate action timings necessary for future events. Five-year-old children with ASD remembered their knowledge sources similar to TD children; however, the 6-year-old children performed more poorly than their TD counterparts. ASD children failed to anticipate future action timings in comparison with TD children. Although source memory and future thinking were related in TD children, they were unrelated in children with ASD. The results suggest that episodic memory and foresight are deficient and unintegrated in ASD children during the preschool years.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2020 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04274-9