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Working memory in children with autism and with moderate learning difficulties
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines
|September 1, 1996
Summary
Children with autism show specific working memory impairments, particularly in the central executive functions. While they use rehearsal strategies like typical children, their working memory capacity is reduced compared to typically developing peers.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
Background:
- Working memory is crucial for cognitive functions.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is associated with various cognitive differences.
- Specific deficits in working memory within ASD require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate working memory impairments in children with autism.
- To compare the working memory performance of children with ASD to typically developing children and those with moderate learning difficulties.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1 assessed articulatory rehearsal strategies and span performance.
- Experiment 2 utilized capacity tasks to evaluate the central executive of working memory.
- Participants included children with autism, typically developing children, and children with moderate learning difficulties.
Main Results:
- Children with autism employed articulatory rehearsal similarly to controls.
- Children with autism demonstrated superior spans compared to children with moderate learning difficulties.
- Children with autism showed inferior performance on central executive capacity tasks compared to typically developing children.
Conclusions:
- Children with autism exhibit specific deficits in the central executive component of working memory.
- These findings contribute to understanding the cognitive profile of autism spectrum disorder.