Positive Effect of Visual Cuing in Episodic Memory and Episodic Future Thinking in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Cognitive studies generally report impaired autobiographical memory in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but mostly using verbal paradigms. In the present study, we therefore investigated the properties of both past and future autobiographical productions using visual cues in 16 boys with ASD and 16 typically developing (TD) participants aged between 10 and 18 years. We focused on sensory properties, emotional properties, and recollection, probing past and future productions for both near and distant time periods. Results showed that the ASD group performed more poorly than controls on free recall for recent periods, but performed like them when provided with visual cues. In addition, the ASD group reported fewer sensory details than controls and exhibited difficulties in the experience of recollection for the most remote events. These data suggest a combination of consolidation and binding deficits. Finally, our findings reveal the relevance of using visual cues to probe autobiographical memory, with possible perspectives for memory rehabilitation.

Autobiographical Memory and Social Identity in Autism: Preliminary Results of Social Positioning and Cognitive Intervention

“…Adolescents with ASD appear to compensate for these difficulties in AM for events by preferentially relying on their semantic knowledge. Providing visual aids or giving them more time allows them to adjust their retrieval and reconstruct a more adequate representation of memory (Bruck et al, 2007 ; Goldman, 2008 ; Crane et al, 2010 ; Bon et al, 2012 ; Brown et al, 2012 ; Terrett et al, 2013 ; Goddard et al, 2014 ; Lind et al, 2014 ; Anger et al, 2019 ). We designed our rehabilitation program accordingly.…”

“…In the present study, we used the “From Past to Future Task” already described in a previous publication (Anger et al, 2019 ), which explores specific past personal events and future thinking for the day before (recent past), last vacation (remote past), next day (near future) and upcoming vacation (distant future). Each participant is asked to produce descriptions of memories or projections with as many details as possible, focusing on the past (i.e., one event that happened yesterday and one last summer vacation; “Can you remember something that happened to you yesterday/last summer vacation?…”

“…It featured (1) therapeutic education (Neshat-Doost et al, 2012 ), (2) induction of episodic specificity by creating an image or a mental video of the memory and remembering a maximum of details (Madore and Schacter, 2014 ), (3) a recollection procedure based on Conway's model of AM ranging from general personal knowledge to more specific and detailed memories (Piolino, 2008 ), (4) collective training and assessment of the richness of memories by a peer (Chiang et al, 2010 ; Ricarte et al, 2014 ), (5) facilitation and compensation techniques (Lalanne and Piolino, 2013 ) in line with the task support hypothesis in ASD (Bowler et al, 2004 ), and (6) personal work (homework, journal) (Neshat-Doost et al, 2012 ; Ricarte et al, 2014 ). We also created tools (e.g., use of visual cues and rekindling for impairment in memory retrieval and access; Anger et al, 2019 ) to remediate other specific difficulties in ASD ( Table 4 , Supplementary Table 2 ).…”

“…The episodic component of AM (i.e., focused on personal events) is impaired in ASD, with reduced retrieval, specificity, elaboration and episodic coherence, and a decrease in details, particularly narrative, perceptual, emotional and cognitive ones (Bruck et al, 2007 ; Goldman, 2008 ; Brown et al, 2012 ; Lind et al, 2014 ; Anger et al, 2019 ), affecting both past memories and projections into the future (Crane et al, 2010 ; Lind and Bowler, 2010 ; Terrett et al, 2013 ; Marini et al, 2019 ). The lack of contextual details and access to information also contributes to the aberrant formation of a sense of identity.…”

Episodic Future Thinking in Autism Spectrum Disorder and 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: Association with Anticipatory Pleasure and Social Functioning

“…Studies focusing on children and adolescents also found greater difficulties in generating scenarios happening in the future (Jackson and Atance 2008;Terrett et al 2013). Less vivid narratives (Anger et al 2019) along with difficulties in scene-construction (Ciaramelli et al 2018), self-projection (Hanson and Atance 2014;Marini et al 2016) and narrative skills (Marini et al 2019) were also reported. However, the link between EFT, AP and SF impairments has, to our knowledge, never been studied.…”