Impairments on "open-ended" executive function tests in autism.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Developmental Disorders

Background:

• The executive function (EF) theory is increasingly supported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research.
• Identifying executive impairments in ASD has been challenging, leading to the development of ecologically valid tests.
• Many novel tests feature ill-structured, open-ended scenarios mirroring real-life situations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if task open-endedness sensitivity correlates with detecting executive impairment in autism.
• To compare executive function performance in children with ASD versus neurotypical controls on varying task structures.

Main Methods:

• Forty-five children with ASD and 27 age/IQ-matched controls completed a range of executive function cognitive tests.
• Tasks varied in their degree of open-endedness, assessing performance in real-life relevant scenarios.
• A simple control condition was included to further analyze performance differences.

Main Results:

• Significant group differences in executive function were observed on half of the tasks.
• The greatest executive impairment in the ASD group was detected on tasks with higher degrees of open-endedness.
• The ASD group exhibited fewer spontaneous strategies and more idiosyncratic behavior, particularly on open-ended tasks.

Conclusions:

• Tasks with greater open-endedness appear more sensitive for identifying executive function impairments in autism spectrum disorder.
• Observed behaviors in ASD, such as reduced strategy generation and idiosyncratic responses, may stem from difficulties understanding implicit experimental demands.
• Findings suggest a potential link between socio-communicative difficulties in ASD and performance on open-ended executive function tasks.