Cognitive control and episodic memory in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Introduction To further investigate manifestations of episodic memory impairments in adolescents, we examined the role of encoding on recognition of stimuli in conditions designed to emphasize their item-specific versus relational characteristics in a group of 12–18 year olds with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We also examined how strategic learning and memory processes, verbal abilities, attention, and age were associated with recognition in this group. Materials and method Twenty two high functioning adolescents with ASD (mean age = 15 years; SD = 1.8; range = 12.2–17.9), and 26 age, gender, and IQ-matched adolescents with typical development (TYP) (mean age = 14.7 years; SD = 1.9; range = 12.3–17.8) completed the Relational and Item-Specific Encoding task (RiSE), the California Verbal Learning Test-Children’s Version (CVLT-C), the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and the Connors’ Parent Rating Scale-Revised. Univariate statistical analyses were performed. Results The ASD group showed poorer performance on strategic memory assessed by the CVLT-C. Surprisingly, on the RiSE, ASD showed poorer discriminability for objects encoded in item-specific versus relational encoding conditions and were more impaired in familiarity (after relational encoding) than in recollection. ASD also did not show the hypothesized association between item and associative recognition and CVLT-C performance found in TYP. Instead, in the ASD group recognition was associated with increased age. Conclusions Findings from the RiSE task demonstrated that adolescents with ASD do not always exhibit impaired memory for relational information as commonly believed. Instead, memory was worse when cognitive control demands were high, when encoding focused on specific item features, and when familiarity was used to retrieve relational information. Recognition also was better in older participants. This suggests that learning and memory deficits in adolescents with ASD, may not be due primarily to failed relational binding processes in the hippocampus but, rather to disrupted strategic memory and familiarity processes associated with the prefrontal and perirhinal cortices. These findings demonstrate the importance and utility of using well-validated cognitive neuroscience tasks and of considering the ages of participants when comparing the neural underpinnings of different memory processes in both typical and atypical populations.

Eye movements reveal a dissociation between memory encoding and retrieval in adults with autism

“…For instance, impairments characterised by theories focused on encoding, such as deficits in complex information processing (Minshew & Williams, 2007) and relational binding Bowler et al, 2014), could easily arise due to deficits in strategic retrieval (cf. Cooper et al, 2015;Solomon, McCauley, Iosif, Carter, & Ragland, 2016). Similarly, the task support effect (Bowler et al, 2004), highlighting that retrieval cues (reducing strategic retrieval demands) ameliorate recollection deficits in EYE MOVEMENTS AND MEMORY IN AUTISM 4 ASD, could arise due to deficient encoding (cf.…”

Memory in autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analysis of experimental studies.

“…Reduced relational memory in ASD compared to TD people has been reported in various paradigms (see in adolescents, Bowler et al, 2014, other findings tend to show improved performance from childhood to adulthood Solomon et al, 2016), but no decrease between younger and older individuals with ASD contrary to the pattern seen in healthy ageing individuals with typical development . Diminished relational memory has been related to neuroanatomical models suggesting primary hippocampal impairments , and cognitive models associating relational memory with executive dysfunction (Maister et al, 2013), and top-down deficits leading to an effortful and less automatic associative retrieval .…”

Episodic memory retrieval in adolescents with and without developmental language disorder (DLD)

“…The aim of the current study, therefore, was to examine episodic memory functioning in adolescents with and without DLD using the Relational and Item-Specific Encoding (RISE) paradigm. The RISE task was chosen due to its good reliability and validity (Ragland et al 2012), as well as its successful use with healthy individuals as well as people with conditions associated with impaired episodic memory (Ragland et al 2015, Solomon et al 2016). More specifically, the RISE task allows us to examine the effect of different encoding processes (i.e., item-specific and relational) on episodic memory retrieval in DLD within the same paradigm using non-verbal responses.…”

“…, Solomon et al . ). More specifically, the RISE task allows us to examine the effect of different encoding processes (i.e., item‐specific and relational) on episodic memory retrieval in DLD within the same paradigm using non‐verbal responses.…”