Investigation of the Neurocognitive Characteristics of Parents of Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A
Özge Tekeli Uçar1, Murat Eyüboğlu2
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Eskisehir City Hospital, Eskisehir, Turkey.
Abstract:
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental condition whose genetic underpinnings may manifest as subclinical cognitive and behavioral traits in first-degree relatives, including parents of diagnosed individuals. Assessing parental cognitive profiles is valuable for identifying Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) endophenotypes. Accordingly, this study examined possible cognitive endophenotypes by comparing neurocognitive profiles of parents (mothers and fathers) of children with ASD versus parents of neurotypical children. This cross-sectional study included 124 parents of children aged 2-12 years. Participants' neurocognitive performance was assessed using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), including the Reaction Time (RTI), Spatial Working Memory (SWM), and Paired Associates Learning (PAL) tasks. The results indicated that parents in the ASD group exhibited significantly poorer performance than the control group on the RTI, which assesses attention and psychomotor speed. Regarding the SWM parameters related to decision making and strategy development, the findings varied across the individual subtests. On the PAL task, which measures visual episodic memory, parents in the ASD group exhibited significantly poorer performance than the control group. In the binary logistic regression analysis, the RTIFMDMT (Five-choice reaction time) variable emerged as the only significant predictor of being a parent of a child with ASD. Furthermore, child autism severity, measured by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC), did not correlate with parental performance. In conclusion, the present study suggests that parents of children with ASD may exhibit neurocognitive differences in attention, RTI, and memory domains. These findings support the presence of candidate cognitive endophenotypes in parents, reinforcing the genetic underpinnings of ASD and providing an important reference for family-based early intervention programs as well as future neuroimaging research.
