General Memory Abilities for Autobiographical Events in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Crane, Laura; Maras, Katie

doi:10.1002/9781119158431.ch8

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 143 publications

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“…There is now a large body of evidence showing that, alongside the core behavioral features of autism, autistic individuals show marked differences in memory processes compared to typically developing (TD) individuals [see e.g., Boucher & Bowler, 2008;Boucher, Mayes, & Bigham, 2012]. In particular, autistic individuals often experience specific difficulties in retrieving episodic memories [see e.g., Crane & Maras, 2018;Gaigg & Bowler, 2018]. A number of studies also report that autistic individuals show difficulties in monitoring the accuracy of their responses [e.g., Brosnan et al, 2016;Grainger, Williams, & Lind, 2014Williams, Bergström, & Grainger, 2018; but see Sawyer, Williamson, &Young, 2014, andWojcik, Allen, Brown, &Souchay, 2011].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metacognitive Monitoring and Control of Eyewitness Memory Reports in Autism

2020

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Providing eyewitness testimony involves monitoring one's memory to provide a detailed and accurate account: reporting details likely to be accurate and withholding potentially inaccurate details. Autistic individuals reportedly experience difficulties in both retrieving episodic memories and monitoring their accuracy, which has important implications for eyewitness testimony. Thirty autistic and 33 IQ-matched typically developing (TD) participants viewed a video of a mock bank robbery followed by three phases of questions (with judgments of confidence). In Phase 1, participants freely generated the granularity of their responses (i.e., fineor coarse-grained). In Phase 2, participants answered the same questions but provided both a fineand a coarse-grained answer. In Phase 3, participants were instructed to maximize accuracy over informativeness by selecting one of their Phase 2 answers as their final answer. They either received the questions socially (from the experimenter) or answered them online. There were no group differences in accuracy or metacognitive monitoring, with both autistic and TD witnesses demonstrating: (a) a strong preference for reporting fine-grained details at the expense of accuracy; (b) improved though still suboptimal grain size reporting when instructed to maximize accuracy over informativeness; (c) effective accuracy monitoring; and (d) higher overall accuracy when questions were delivered socially. There was, however, a subtle difference in metacognitive control, with autistic witnesses performing more poorly than TD witnesses when questions were delivered socially, but not when they were delivered online. These findings contrast with evidence suggesting that autism is marked by impairments in episodic memory and metacognitive monitoring and control.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metacognitive Monitoring and Control of Eyewitness Memory Reports in Autism

2020

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“…Autistic people often experience difficulties in recalling specific personal episodic memories ( Ben Shalom, 2003 ; Crane & Goddard, 2008 ; Goddard et al, 2007 ; Klein et al, 1999 ; McDonnell et al, 2017 ). These difficulties are characterised by over-general recollection, with autistic adults retrieving fewer or less specific memories, and taking significantly longer to do so (see Crane & Maras, 2018 ; Gaigg & Bowler, 2018 ). This is particularly pertinent for CJS, health and employment interviews because autistic individuals currently face significant disadvantages in each of these areas.…”

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confidence: 99%

Interviewing autistic adults: Adaptations to support recall in police, employment, and healthcare interviews

Norris

Crane

Maras

2020

Autism

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Recalling specific past experiences is critical for most formal social interactions, including when being interviewed for employment, as a witness or defendant in the criminal justice system, or as a patient during a clinical consultation. Such interviews can be difficult for autistic adults under standard open questioning, yet applied research into effective methods to facilitate autistic adults’ recall is only recently beginning to emerge. The current study tested the efficacy of different prompting techniques to support autistic adults’ recall of specific personal memories; 30 autistic and 30 typically developing adults (intelligence quotients > 85) were asked to recall specific instances from their past, relevant to criminal justice system, healthcare, and employment interviews. Questions comprised ‘open questions’, ‘semantic prompting’ (where semantic knowledge was used to prompt specific episodic retrieval) and ‘visual–verbal prompting’ (a pie-diagram with prompts to recall specific details, for example, who, what, and where). Half the participants received the questions in advance. Consistent with previous research, autistic participants reported memories with reduced specificity. For both groups, visual–verbal prompting support improved specificity and episodic relevance, while semantic prompting also aided recall for employment questions (but not health or criminal justice system). Findings offer new practical insight for interviewers to facilitate communication with typically developing and autistic adults. Lay abstract During many types of interviews (e.g. in employment, with the police, and in healthcare), we need to recall detailed memories of specific events, which can be difficult for autistic people in response to commonly used questions. This is especially because these tend to be open questions (i.e. very broad). Autistic people have disproportionately high rates of physical and mental health conditions, are more likely to interact with police, and are the most underemployed disability group. However, interviewers are often unsure about how to adapt their communication for autistic people. Our research tested whether different types of prompts enabled autistic people to recall specific memories (memories of a single event within one day). Participants were asked about situations relating to witnessing a crime (e.g. at the bank), physical or mental health scenarios and employment interviews (e.g. a time you’ve met a deadline). We tested the following: Open questions: basic questions only (e.g. ‘tell me about a time you went to the cinema’), Semantic prompting: a general prompt (e.g. ‘do you enjoy going to the cinema?’) before asking for a specific instance (‘tell me about a time you went to the cinema?’), Visual–verbal prompting: asking participants to recall when it happened, who was there, the actions that occurred, the setting, and any objects. With visual–verbal prompting, autistic and typically developing participants’ memories were more specific and detailed. Semantic prompting was also effective for employment questions. Our study shows that autistic people can recall specific memories when they are appropriately prompted. Visual–verbal prompting may be effective across different situations.

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“…This difficulty can make them appear to be uncooperative and even non-responsive when they are being questioned by police, attorneys, or judges (see also Kroncke, Willard, & Huckabee, 2016). Individuals with ASD frequently have difficulty in being able to recollect or remember past personally experienced events and tend to remember fewer of them as well as taking more time to do this when compared to individuals without ASD (Goddard et al, 2007;Crane & Goddard, 2008;Crane et al, 2012;Crane & Maras, 2018). These are difficulties that criminal justice professionals need to be aware of and manage appropriately when interviewing an individual with ASD within a forensic setting/context.…”

Section: Formal Diagnosis Of Asdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributory role of autism spectrum disorder symptomology to the viewing of indecent images of children (IIOC) and the experience of the criminal justice system

Allely

2020

JIDOB

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Purpose Allely and Dubin (2018) and Allely et al. (2019) have emphasised that there are a range of innate vulnerabilities in many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are charged with the viewing of indecent images of children (IIOC). Currently, the association between ASD and the viewing of IIOC is poorly recognised and understood both by the general public and clinical and legal professionals. Design/methodology/approach This is a detailed case study exploring the contributory role of ASD symptomology in the viewing of IIOC. In this case study, the experience of the criminal justice system is also explored. Findings It is hoped that this case study will provide insight into and understanding of the association and raise awareness of the need to consider this at all stages of the criminal justice system, including in sentencing decisions. It will also more effectively inform the development of appropriate preventative strategies and timely interventions. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first detailed case study which explores the contributory role of ASD symptomology in the viewing of IIOC in the academic peer-reviewed literature.

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General Memory Abilities for Autobiographical Events in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Cited by 13 publications

References 143 publications

Metacognitive Monitoring and Control of Eyewitness Memory Reports in Autism

Metacognitive Monitoring and Control of Eyewitness Memory Reports in Autism

Interviewing autistic adults: Adaptations to support recall in police, employment, and healthcare interviews

Contributory role of autism spectrum disorder symptomology to the viewing of indecent images of children (IIOC) and the experience of the criminal justice system

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