Abstract
Impaired executive function (EF) is suggested to be one of the core features in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, little is known about whether the extent of worse EF in ASD than typically developing (TD) controls is age-dependent. We used age-stratified analysis to reveal this issue. We assessed 111 youths with ASD (aged 12.5 ± 2.8 years, male 94.6%) and 114 age-, and sex-matched TD controls with Digit Span and four EF tasks of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): Spatial Span (SSP), Spatial Working Memory (SWM), Stockings of Cambridge (SOC), and Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift Test (I/ED). Compared to TD controls, youths with ASD performed poorer on the Digit Span, SWM, SOC, and I/ED tasks. The performance of all the tasks improved with age for both groups. Age-stratified analyses were conducted due to significant age × group interactions in visuospatial planning (SOC) and set-shifting (I/ED) and showed that poorer performance on these two tasks in ASD than TD controls was found only in the child (aged 8-12 years) rather than the adolescent (aged 13-18 years) group. By contrast, youths with ASD had impaired working memory, regardless of age. The increased magnitude of group difference in visuospatial planning (SOC) with increased task demands differed between the two age groups but no age moderating effect on spatial working memory. Our findings support deficits in visuospatial working memory and planning in youths with ASD; however, worse performance in set-shifting may only be demonstrated in children with ASD.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with long-lasting neurocognitive dysfunctions in addition to impaired socio-communication and restricted, repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behavior, interests, and activities (APA, 2013)
The age, education level, and employment status of the parents were compatible between ASD and typically developing (TD) for both child and adolescent groups except for mothers’ age and employment status (Table 1)
The results showed that while children with ASD showed significant correlations between the Stockings of Cambridge task (SOC) and verbal communication deficits assessed by the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R) at the current and most severe status (Supplementary Table S6), there were significant correlations between the performance of the SOC and the verbal and non-verbal communication deficits assessed by the ADI-R at the most severe status in adolescents with ASD (Supplementary Table S7)
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with long-lasting neurocognitive dysfunctions in addition to impaired socio-communication and restricted, repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behavior, interests, and activities (APA, 2013). Among the three main cognitive theories of ASD [i.e. theory of mind (Baron-Cohen et al 2000), weak central coherence (Baron-Cohen, 2002), and executive dysfunction (Hill, 2004)], Hill’s theory of executive dysfunction explains deficits in initiating new non-routine actions and links the behavioral repetition and perseveration to frontal lobe dysfunction in ASD Such a theory is supported by several early studies (Damasio & Maurer, 1978; Osterling & Dawson, 1994; Dawson et al 1998; Salmond et al 2003); for example, the lack.
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