Subject-performed task effect on working memory performance in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Kids with autism who have lower-middle or higher IQ remember more when they physically act out instructions; low-IQ kids need extra help.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wang et al. (2022) asked kids with autism to remember lists of instructions. One group acted out each step with toys. A second group only heard the list. A third group heard it twice.
The team then checked who recalled the most steps. They split the kids by IQ level to see if smarts changed the result.
What they found
Only children with lower-middle or high IQ scores got a boost from moving. Low-IQ kids with autism did not improve, even though kids with the same IQ but only intellectual disability did.
In plain words, acting out the list helped only if the child already had some thinking skills to spare.
How this fits with other research
Fantasia et al. (2020) also saw a memory jump when kids with autism controlled a tablet themselves. Both papers show that active, hands-on beats passive watching.
Schlink et al. (2022) looked at the same age range and found no autism–typical gap in visual working memory. That seems to clash, but Andrew never split by IQ. The new study says the gap hides inside the low-IQ slice, so both can be true.
Wuyun et al. (2020) went further. They showed that simply handling an object can restore a “mine” memory boost in autism across all IQ levels. Their result stretches the power of action beyond working memory into self-memory.
Why it matters
If you teach a child with autism who scores in the lower-middle IQ range or above, let them act out directions. Use real objects, not just words. For kids with very low IQ, add extra supports like visuals or prompts; movement alone is not enough. Always check recent cognitive scores before you plan your lesson.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A previous study found that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have better recall when they perform instructions (subject-performed task [SPT]) than when they passively hear instructions (verbal task [VT]) in a working memory task for instructions, an effect that is called the SPT effect. This study explored whether the SPT effect exhibited by ASD children is caused by the movement component or by processing materials twice. More importantly, this study explored whether intelligence influences the SPT effect exhibited by ASD children. ASD children with three levels of intelligence (N = 56) and a control group, children with intellectual disability (ID) who had low intelligence but did not have ASD (N = 21), were asked to perform working memory tasks for instructions under VT, SPT and repeated (hearing the instruction twice) conditions. No significant difference in performance was observed between the VT and repeated conditions, regardless of the child's level of intelligence. ASD children with lower-middle intelligence exhibited a smaller SPT effect than ASD children with upper-middle intelligence. Critically, while ASD children with low intelligence did not exhibit the SPT effect, an ID group with equivalent low intelligence did show this effect. Therefore, these results show that the SPT effect for ASD children is caused by the movement component and is uniquely associated with a certain level of intelligence, namely, lower middle and higher levels of intelligence. LAY SUMMARY: In ASD children, the benefit of physically performing instructions for working memory performance is uniquely associated with a certain level of intelligence. Only ASD children with lower-middle intelligence (and higher) benefit from physically performing instructions, and higher intelligence increases this benefit; ASD children with low intelligence do not show this benefit. This benefit in ASD children is attributed to the additional motoric code generated by physical performance.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022 · doi:10.1002/aur.2710