Time-based and event-based prospective memory in autism spectrum disorder: the roles of executive function and theory of mind, and time-estimation.
High-functioning students with ASD remember to act when cued but lose track of clock time—pair goals with clear external signals.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested 40 high-functioning kids with ASD and 40 matched peers.
Each child played two memory games.
In one game they had to hand over a card at a set time. In the other they handed it over when a picture popped up.
The kids also took quick tests of executive function and theory of mind.
What they found
The ASD group forgot the time-based task twice as often.
They did fine on the event-based task.
Poor theory-of-mind scores predicted the time slips, not weak executive scores.
How this fits with other research
Terrett et al. (2013) saw the same pattern. Their ASD kids also struggled with future planning and showed the same theory-of-mind link.
Ciaramelli et al. (2018) pushed the age range up to 18 and still found the same gap, so the problem does not fade with age.
Ye et al. (2023) pooled 25 studies and called the overall effect "mental time travel deficit." Their meta-analysis includes these 2013 data, so the new number is the best estimate today.
Why it matters
When you teach self-management, lean on event cues first. Use alarms, visuals, or peer prompts instead of asking the student to "remember in five minutes." Check theory-of-mind skills early; if the child fails false-belief tasks, plan extra scaffolding for any time-based goal.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Prospective memory (remembering to carry out an action in the future) has been studied relatively little in ASD. We explored time-based (carry out an action at a pre-specified time) and event-based (carry out an action upon the occurrence of a pre-specified event) prospective memory, as well as possible cognitive correlates, among 21 intellectually high-functioning children with ASD, and 21 age- and IQ-matched neurotypical comparison children. We found impaired time-based, but undiminished event-based, prospective memory among children with ASD. In the ASD group, time-based prospective memory performance was associated significantly with diminished theory of mind, but not with diminished cognitive flexibility. There was no evidence that time-estimation ability contributed to time-based prospective memory impairment in ASD.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1703-9