Effects of related and unrelated context on recall and recognition by adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder

Dermot M Bowler,Sebastian B Gaigg,John M Gardiner

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.12.004

Dermot M Bowler, Sebastian B Gaigg + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2007.12.004

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Abstract

Memory in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by greater difficulties with recall rather than recognition and with a diminished use of semantic or associative relatedness in the aid of recall. Two experiments are reported that test the effects of item–context relatedness on recall and recognition in adults with high-functioning ASD (HFA) and matched typical comparison participants. In both experiments, participants studied words presented inside a red rectangle and were told to ignore context words presented outside the rectangle. Context words were either related or unrelated to the study words. The results showed that relatedness of context enhanced recall for the typical group only. However, recognition was enhanced by relatedness in both groups of participants. On a behavioural level, these findings confirm the Task Support Hypothesis [Bowler, D. M., Gardiner, J. M., & Berthollier, N. (2004). Source memory in Asperger's syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 533–542], which states that individuals with ASD will show greater difficulty on memory tests that provide little support for retrieval. The findings extend this hypothesis by showing that it operates at the level of relatedness between studied items and incidentally encoded context. By showing difficulties in memory for associated items, the findings are also consistent with conjectures that implicate medial temporal lobe and frontal lobe dysfunction in the memory difficulties of individuals with ASD.

Highlights

There is some evidence that individuals with highfunctioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (HFA) have diminished memory for source or incidentally-encoded context, especially when that context has to be recalled rather than recognised
Damage to the frontal lobes, often not producing obvious amnesia, does give rise to a patterning of spared and impaired memory functions that is similar to that seen in ASD (Shimamura, 1996; Wheeler & Stuss, 2003), and ASD is characterised by diminished performance on some executive function tasks that are mediated by the frontal lobes
The second phenomenon is that performance on memory tasks by people with ASD tends to be better when supported test procedures such as cued recall or recognition are employed, the Task Support Hypothesis (TSH)

Summary

Introduction

There is some evidence that individuals with HFA have diminished memory for source or incidentally-encoded context, especially when that context has to be recalled rather than recognised (see Bowler et al, 2004). In view of the structural findings and the patterning of memory performance, it is reasonable to hypothesise that individuals with ASD will experience difficulties on memory tasks that involve the integration of disparate elements of experience This hypothesis has been supported by several investigations. On the basis of existing findings on memory in ASD as well as on the the consequences for episodic memory of medial temporal and hippocampal damage, it can be argued that diminished episodic memory in ASD is partly the result of a failure of the influence of context on recall of studied material, especially when the context and the studied items are conceptually related. We predicted that for comparison participants, recall and recognition would be higher when studied and context words were related than when they were unrelated. All participants gave their informed consent to take part in the study, which was cleared by the university senate ethical committee

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