Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Dev Sci. 2011 Nov;14(6):1311-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01077.x. Epub 2011 Aug 4.
Timing is essential for the development of cognitive skills known to be impaired in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), such as social cognition and episodic memory abilities. Despite the proposal that timing impairments may underpin core features of ASC, few studies have examined temporal processing in ASC and they have produced conflicting results. The present study first addressed discrepancies between previous experiments before testing the assumption that timing impairments may underpin key aspects of autism, by relating differences in temporal processing in the ASC group to memory abilities. Errors in duration reproduction in high functioning children with ASC were observed for the shortest and longest duration tested. While the former was due to attentional factors, the latter was due to deficient timing related to atypical episodic memory processing. These findings suggest that temporal processing abilities play a key role in the poor development of both social cognition and episodic memory abilities associated with ASC.
对于自闭症谱系障碍（ASC）中已知受损的认知技能的发展，时间安排至关重要，例如社会认知和情景记忆能力。尽管有人提出，时间安排障碍可能是 ASC 的核心特征的基础，但很少有研究检查 ASC 中的时间处理，而且他们的结果相互矛盾。本研究首先解决了以前的实验之间的差异，然后测试了时间安排障碍可能是自闭症关键方面的基础的假设，通过将 ASC 组中时间处理的差异与记忆能力相关联。在测试的最短和最长持续时间内，观察到高功能 ASC 儿童在持续时间再现中的错误。虽然前者归因于注意力因素，但后者归因于与非典型情景记忆处理相关的时间安排不足。这些发现表明，时间处理能力在与 ASC 相关的社会认知和情景记忆能力发展不良中起着关键作用。
