Working memory load affects repetitive behaviour but not cognitive flexibility in adolescent autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Working memory demands affect repetitive behaviour while processes of cognitive flexibility are unaffected. Effects emerge due to deficits in preparatory attentional processes and deficits in task rule activation, organisation and implementation of task sets when repetitive behaviour is concerned. It may be speculated that the habitual response mode in ASD (i.e. repetitive behaviour) is particularly vulnerable to additional demands on executive control processes.

On the role of the prefrontal cortex in fatigue effects on cognitive flexibility - a system neurophysiological approach

“…This experimental variation was introduced because several lines of evidence have revealed that (i) especially cognitively demanding (effortful) tasks requiring executive control functions show mental fatigue effects 3 , 4 , 13 and (ii) that the degree to which performance is affected depends on the degree to which the tasks engage similar prefrontal regions 3 . It has been shown that working memory processes can increase demands on task switching processes 22 , 23 , 25 , 34 , 40 and we hypothesized switching fatigability effects are therefore particularly evident in memory-based tasks.…”

“…However, an important aspect that must be considered when investigating fatigability effects on the neurophysiological level relates to the strong intra-individual variability of neurophysiological processes during memory-based switching 22 – 25 , 34 . It has been shown that during memory-based switching, reliable neurophysiological correlates of cognitive sub-processes can best be detected when accounting for the issue of intra-individual variability 22 . This is of special importance in the context of fatigability, as intra-individual variability and its change over time is a key metric for defining performance-based cognitive fatigability 35 .…”