Scientific article
English

A Virtual Week study of prospective memory function in autism spectrum disorders

Published inJournal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 127, p. 110-125
Publication date2014
Abstract

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the implementation of delayed intentions, a cognitive ability that plays a critical role in daily life because of its involvement in goal-directed behavior and consequently the development and maintenance of independence. Emerging evidence indicates that PM may be disrupted in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), potentially contributing to the functional difficulties that characterize this group. However, the degree, nature, and specificity of ASD-related impairment remains poorly understood. In the current study, children between 8 and 12 years of age who were diagnosed with ASDs (n = 30) were compared with typically developing children (n = 30) on a childappropriate version of the Virtual Week board game. This measure provides an opportunity to investigate the different sorts of PM failures that occur. The ASD group showed significant PM impairment on measures of time-based (but not event-based) prospective remembering. However, only a subtle difference emerged between regular and irregular PM tasks, and group differences were consistent across these tasks. Because regular and irregular tasks differentially load retrospective memory, these data imply that the PM difficulties seen in ASDs may primarily reflect a monitoring deficit and not an encoding and memory storage deficit. PM performance was poorer under conditions of high ongoing task absorption, but the magnitude of this effect did not vary as a function of group. In both groups, time-based (but not event-based) PM difficulties were associated with functional outcomes in daily life, but only an inconsistent association with executive control emerged.

Keywords
  • Autism
  • Prospective memory
  • Functional capacity
  • Executive control
Citation (ISO format)
HENRY, Julie D. et al. A Virtual Week study of prospective memory function in autism spectrum disorders. In: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2014, vol. 127, p. 110–125. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2014.01.011
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0022-0965
432views
1downloads

Technical informations

Creation06/28/2019 2:09:00 PM
First validation06/28/2019 2:09:00 PM
Update time03/15/2023 5:47:38 PM
Status update03/15/2023 5:47:37 PM
Last indexation10/31/2024 1:52:07 PM
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack