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Remembering the future; prospective memory across the autistic adult's life span
Annabeth P Groenman1, Carolien Torenvliet1, Tulsi A Radhoe1
1University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Autism : the International Journal of Research and Practice
|January 19, 2024
Summary
Prospective memory, crucial for daily tasks, shows similar age-related changes in autistic and non-autistic adults. Performance on real-world tasks remained stable across age groups for both populations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Autism Research
Background:
- Prospective memory is vital for everyday functioning.
- This cognitive function is particularly significant for autistic adults.
- The relationship between aging and prospective memory in autistic individuals is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how prospective memory changes with age in autistic and non-autistic adults.
- To compare age-related patterns of prospective memory performance between autistic and non-autistic individuals.
Main Methods:
- Assessed prospective memory using experimental tasks and real-world tasks.
- Compared performance across different age groups in autistic and non-autistic participants.
Main Results:
- Experimental prospective memory task performance declined with age in both autistic and non-autistic adults.
- No significant age effects were observed for real-world prospective memory tasks.
- Autistic and non-autistic adults demonstrated parallel development and age-related trajectories in prospective memory.
Conclusions:
- Prospective memory shows similar age-related changes in autistic and non-autistic adults.
- Real-world prospective memory appears resilient to aging in both groups.
- Findings suggest autistic adults do not experience accelerated cognitive decline in prospective memory with age.
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