Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders, Children's National Medical Center.
Neuropsychology. 2013 Sep;27(5):529-36. doi: 10.1037/a0033599. Epub 2013 Aug 12.
The apparent contradiction between preserved or even enhanced perceptual processing speed on inspection time tasks in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and impaired performance on complex processing speed tasks that require motor output (e.g., Wechsler Processing Speed Index) has not yet been systematically investigated. This study investigates whether adding motor output demands to an inspection time task impairs ASD performance compared to that of typically developing control (TDC) children. The performance of children with ASD (n = 28; mean Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) = 115) and TDC (n = 25; mean FSIQ = 122) children was compared on processing speed tasks with increasing motor demand. Correlations were run between ASD task performance and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Communication scores. Performance by the ASD and TDC groups on a simple perceptual processing speed task with minimal motor demand was equivalent, though it diverged (ASD worse than TDC) on 2 tasks with the same stimuli but increased motor output demands. ASD performance on the moderate but not the high speeded motor output demand task was negatively correlated with ADOS communication symptoms. These data address the apparent contradiction between preserved inspection time in the context of slowed "processing speed" in ASD. They show that processing speed is preserved when motor demands are minimized, but that increased motor output demands interfere with the ability to act on perceptual processing of simple stimuli. Reducing motor demands (e.g., through the use of computers) may increase the capacity of people with ASD to demonstrate good perceptual processing in a variety of educational, vocational, and social settings.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者在检查时间任务中表现出明显的知觉处理速度保存甚至增强，而在需要运动输出的复杂处理速度任务（例如威斯康星州加工速度指数）中表现则受损，这种明显的矛盾尚未得到系统研究。本研究旨在调查在检查时间任务中增加运动输出需求是否会与典型发育对照（TDC）儿童相比，损害 ASD 患者的表现。对 28 名 ASD 儿童（平均全量表智商（FSIQ）= 115）和 25 名 TDC 儿童（平均 FSIQ = 122）的加工速度任务进行了比较，这些任务的运动需求逐渐增加。还运行了 ASD 任务表现与自闭症诊断观察量表（ADOS）沟通评分之间的相关性。在具有最小运动需求的简单知觉处理速度任务中，ASD 和 TDC 组的表现相当，尽管在具有相同刺激但运动输出需求增加的 2 个任务中，表现则存在差异（ASD 比 TDC 差）。ASD 在中速而不是高速运动输出需求任务中的表现与 ADOS 沟通症状呈负相关。这些数据解决了 ASD 中“处理速度”减慢背景下的检查时间保存的明显矛盾。它们表明，当运动需求最小化时，处理速度是保存的，但增加的运动输出需求会干扰对简单刺激的知觉处理的能力。降低运动需求（例如，通过使用计算机）可能会增加 ASD 患者在各种教育、职业和社会环境中表现出良好知觉处理的能力。
