Task switching in autism: An EEG study on intentions and actions

Abstract

One of the main symptoms of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) is experiencing cognitive inflexibility when adjustments of behaviour are required. While this so-called behavioural rigidity is broadly recognised in ASC, finding evidence for the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remains challenging. In this electroencephalographic (EEG) study, participants with ASC and matched controls were instructed to choose between two cognitive tasks in each trial, and to respond to the subsequently presented target stimulus according to their task choice. While doing so, we tracked the frontally distributed contingent negative variation (CNV) during the task preparation interval as a measure of intentional control, and the posteriorly measured P3 during the task execution interval to monitor the translation of intentions into actions. The results support the notion of intentional control difficulties in ASC, where the CNV was attenuated in the ASC group compared to the control group. Furthermore, the CNV was differentiated between the tasks and transition types in the control group only, suggesting that the ASC group was less fine-tuning the required amount of intentional control to contextual circumstances. In contrast, the P3 showed no significant differences between the groups. Together, these findings highlight the importance of intentional control mechanisms as a crucial future route for a better understanding of cognitive flexibility and behavioural rigidity in ASC.

“No Way Out Except From External Intervention”: First-Hand Accounts of Autistic Inertia

“…Executive function is a diffuse concept with highly varied profiles found in previous research with autistic people ( Demetriou et al, 2018 ). Flexibly starting, stopping and switching tasks depends on executive function ( Hoofs et al, 2018 ; Yeung and Chan, 2020 ). Some of our participants had difficulty breaking down a task, but more often they broke it into so many components that it became overwhelmingly complex and impossible to find the starting point.…”

The relation between driving errors and executive functioning in intellectually able young novice drivers with autism

“…Alternatively, we would have started from EF difficulties in ASD, and selected tasks based on these difficulties. Probably, we would have included cognitive inflexibility, which is experienced when an adjustment of behaviors is required (e.g., such as in task-switching tasks; Hoofs, Princen, Poljac, Stolk, & Poljac, 2018). Not only is this ability very relevant due to the often reported implication in ASD, it is also very relevant for driving, in which one continuously has to switch between different sub-tasks (e.g., steering, braking, merging into traffic).…”

Impulsivity Moderates the Effect of Neurofeedback Training on the Contingent Negative Variation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…However, studies analyzing the CNV in participants with ASD have yielded mixed results ( Strandburg et al, 1993 ; Tye et al, 2014 ; Thillay et al, 2016 ; Høyland et al, 2017 ; Hoofs et al, 2018 ). Early studies could not find any differences between CPT performance and CNV amplitude of high-functioning adults with ASD compared to TD adults ( Strandburg et al, 1993 ).…”