Directed forgetting in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorders.

McGonigle et al. (2014) asked high-functioning adults with autism to study a list of words. Some words were marked "remember" and others "forget." Later the team tested how many words each person could recall.

The goal was to see if adults with autism could purposely store new information when told to remember it.

Adults with autism recalled fewer to-be-remembered words than typical adults. The gap showed a clear episodic encoding deficit even when participants tried to learn.

In plain words, the autism group had trouble turning short-term study into long-term memory.

Maddox et al. (2015) extends this finding by adding brain scans. They saw weaker hippocampus and prefrontal activity in adults with autism during the same kind of memory task. The neural data back up the behavioral deficit J et al. reported.

Crane et al. (2008) and Cramm et al. (2009) are predecessors that first spotted relational memory problems in autism. J et al. confirms the pattern with a stricter directed-forgetting method.

Bouck et al. (2016) looks like a contradiction at first. They found intact proactive interference, hinting that basic semantic encoding is fine. The clash disappears when you notice task type: interference tasks tap simple associations, while directed forgetting demands elaborate encoding. Both papers agree that shallow memory works; deep, effortful encoding does not.

If you teach vocational, social, or daily-living skills to adults with autism, do not assume they will self-store the details. Break content into small pieces, add visual or verbal hooks, and check recall soon after teaching. Extra encoding support beats extra review alone.