Spatial navigation from same and different directions: The role of executive functions, memory and attention in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Ring, Melanie; Gaigg, Sebastian; Condappa, Olivier de; Wiener, Jan; Bowler, Dermot

doi:10.1002/aur.1924

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Further data are needed to formulate more definitive hypotheses. We are left with two tentative conclusions, namely that on the one hand undiminished or superior visuospatial abilities have been suggested as being characteristic to ASD (Caron et al, 2004; Edgin & Pennington, 2005) and on the other hand, that the hippocampus—the brain structure involved inter alia in memory for locations (Ekstrom & Ranganath, 2017)—may be impaired in ASD (Lind et al, 2014; Lind, Williams, Raber, Peel, & Bowler, 2013; Ring et al, 2017; Ring, Gaigg, Altgassen, et al, 2018; Ring, Gaigg, de Condappa, et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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

Desaunay

Briant

Bowler

et al. 2020

Psychological Bulletin

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/23359/ Link to published version: http://dx. Abstract:To address inconsistencies in the literature on memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), we report the first ever meta-analysis of short-term (STM) and episodic longterm (LTM) memory in ASD, evaluating the effects of type of material, type of retrieval and the role of inter-item relations. Analysis of 64 studies comparing individuals with ASD and typical development (TD) showed greater difficulties in ASD compared to TD individuals in STM (Hedges' g=-0.53 [95%CI -0.90; -0.16], p=.005, I²=96%) compared to LTM (g=-0.30 [95%CI -0.42; -0.17], p<.00001, I²=24%), a small difficulty in verbal LTM (g=-0.21, p=.01), contrasting with a medium difficulty for visual LTM (g= -0.41, p=.0002) in ASD compared to TD individuals. We also found a general diminution in free recall compared to cued recall and recognition (LTM, free recall: g=-0.38, p<.00001, cued recall: g=-0.08, p=.58, recognition: g=-0.15, p=.16; STM, free recall: g=-0.59, p=.004, recognition: g=-0.33, p=.07).We discuss these results in terms of their relation to semantic memory. The limited diminution in verbal LTM and preserved overall recognition and cued recall (supported retrieval) may result from a greater overlap of these tasks with semantic long-term representations which are overall preserved in ASD. By contrast, difficulties in STM or free recall may result from less overlap with the semantic system or may involve additional cognitive operations and executive demands. These findings highlight the need to support STM functioning in ASD and acknowledge the potential benefit of using verbal materials at encoding and broader forms of memory support at retrieval to enhance performance. ABSTRACTTo address inconsistencies in the literature on memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), we report the first ever meta-analysis of short-term (STM) and episodic long-term (LTM) memory in ASD, evaluating the effects of type of material, type of retrieval and the role of inter-item relations.Analysis of 64 studies comparing individuals with ASD and typical development (TD) showed greater difficulties in ASD compared to TD individuals in STM (Hedges' g=-0.53 [95%CI -0.90; -0.16], p=.005, I²=96%) compared to LTM (g=-0.30 [95%CI -0.42; -0.17], p<.00001, I²=24%), a small difficulty in verbal LTM (g=-0.21, p=.01), contrasting with a medium difficulty for visual LTM (g= -0.41, p=.0002) in ASD compared to TD individuals. We also found a general diminution in free recall compared to cued recall and recognition (LTM, free recall: g=-0.38, p<.00001, cued recall: g=-0.08, p=.58, recognition: g=-0.15, p=.16; STM, free recall: g=-0.59, p=.004, recognition: g=-0.33, p=.07).We discuss these results in terms of their relation to semantic memory. The limited diminution in verbal LTM and preserved overall recognition and cued recall (supported retrieval)...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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

Desaunay

Briant

Bowler

et al. 2020

Psychological Bulletin

Self Cite

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“…Importantly, these difficulties were also observed in intellectually high-functioning individuals with ASD (here referred to as HFA), who score within normal ranges on standardized tests of cognitive and language abilities. There is evidence for selective impairments in HFA in spatial working memory ( Lai et al, 2017 ; Wang et al, 2017 ), visual perspective taking ( Pearson et al, 2013 ; Shield et al, 2016 ), binding objects to locations ( Ring et al, 2015 ) and spatial navigation ( Lind et al, 2013 , 2014 ; Ring, Gaigg, de Condappa, et al, 2018 ; Smith, 2015 ). Crucially, acquisition of these skills goes hand in hand with linguistic development and involves the mastery of spatial language, that is, verbal descriptions of spatial relations such as under, to the left of, north or towards .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tell me where it is: Selective difficulties in spatial language on the autism spectrum

Bochyńska

Coventry

Vulchanov

et al. 2020

Autism

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Proficient use of spatial terms such as under, to the left of or in front of is a central component of daily communication and is important in the development of language and spatial cognition. Here we examine spatial language abilities in intellectually high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder, an area previously overlooked in autism research. Twenty-five high-functioning individuals with ASD and 25 typically developing controls, matched for chronological age and cognitive abilities, completed a novel battery tapping a broad range of spatial language abilities. We report selective difficulties in the production of spatial terms and spatial description recall in high-functioning ASD. Overall verbal abilities did not account for the observed group differences. Crucially, however, the intensity of autism spectrum traits predicted individual performance in both spatial language production and spatial description recall. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings and explore their significance for both clinical practice and intervention. Lay abstract How we think and talk about space is an essential ability, necessary for understanding the world around us. We recruit spatial thinking every day when finding our way or using tools but also in more advanced tasks, such as reading complex graphs or maps. We do so also in daily communication when we use spatial language, terms such as under, over, to the left of or in front of, and when we give instructions. Spatial terms appear in children’s early vocabularies and continue to develop until late childhood or even early adolescence. Because spatial language develops over many years, some spatial terms are mastered very early, whereas others take longer to acquire. In the current set of studies, we tested how intellectually high-functioning children and adults on the autism spectrum use and understand these early- and late-acquired spatial terms in comparison to typically developing age-matched individuals. We found that children and adults on the autism spectrum experience difficulties with the use of some spatial terms (e.g. near and far or out of and down off) but not with others, which are acquired early (e.g. in and on or over and under). We also found that remembering spatial terms from short stories was more difficult for the individuals on the autism spectrum compared with typically developing individuals. These results reveal difficulties that can profoundly affect everyday communication of children and adults on the autism spectrum but also open new directions of research on language development in autism spectrum disorders.

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“…Intriguingly, other studies have suggested that memory for complex visual scenes is more impaired in ASD when participants experience the scene in the third person and an allocentric representation of the scene is necessary compared to the first person [i.e., egocentric;. Allocentric representation has long been considered a signature of hippocampal function [e.g., Lavenex & Banta-Lavenex, 2013], underscoring difficulty with memory mechanisms supported by the hippocampus, although other studies highlight impoverished spontaneous use of landmark cues in ASD [Ring, Gaigg, de Condappa, Wiener, & Bowler, 2018], suggesting that environmental support may at least in part alleviate difficulties with spatial memory in children with ASD. An alternative account of deficits in item-context associative binding is the theory of enhanced perceptual functioning (EPF).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children with ASD Show Impaired Item‐Space Recollection, But Preserved Item‐Color Recollection

et al. 2020

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Although individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been often shown to display similar memory performance on semantic memory tasks compared to typically developing (TD) children, there is ongoing debate about whether and how their ability to remember specific past events (i.e., episodic memory) is impaired. We assessed a sample of 62 children with ASD and 72 TD children, ranging in age between 8 and 12 years on 2 memory tasks. Participants encoded a series of images and their association with either where they appeared on the screen (item-space association task) or with the color of an image's border (item-color association task). Children with ASD showed worse memory in the item-space association task compared to their TD peers, but comparable memory for the item-color association task. These differences persisted when age, intellectual quotient, and general item recognition memory were accounted for statistically. We interpret these results in light of evidence for specific deficits along the dorsal stream affecting processing of spatiotemporal information in ASD.

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Spatial navigation from same and different directions: The role of executive functions, memory and attention in adults with autism spectrum disorder

Cited by 10 publications

References 82 publications

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

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

Tell me where it is: Selective difficulties in spatial language on the autism spectrum

Children with ASD Show Impaired Item‐Space Recollection, But Preserved Item‐Color Recollection

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