Cissne Mackenzie N, Bellesheim Katherine R, Cowan Nelson, Christ Shawn E
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Oct 23. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06600-2.
Previous research suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience working memory (WM) problems, but the nature of the underlying disruption remains unknown. A recent study (Bodner et al. 2019) found that young adults with ASD experienced intact WM capacity but disruptions in their ability to efficiently filter and allocate attention. The goal of the present study was to extend this work and evaluate potential disruptions in WM capacity and attentional allocation ability in adolescents with ASD. A sample of 38 adolescents with ASD and 39 adolescents without ASD aged 11-15 years completed a computerized WM task. In brief, participants were shown visual arrays consisting of four or six colored stimuli (circles and squares). After a short delay, memory for one of the stimuli was probed. Importantly, participants were informed beforehand that one of the shapes (e.g., circles) was more likely to be probed compared to the other shape (e.g., squares) - thus making it strategically beneficial to focus primarily on the high frequency shapes. The ASD group demonstrated overall lower WM capacity compared to the non-ASD group. However, no group differences were seen in attentional allocation. There was also no evidence of sex-related differences in WM performance in adolescents with ASD. Taken together with previous findings, the current results suggest that adolescents with ASD show disruptions in WM capacity that are resolved by adulthood. Future longitudinal research is needed to further disentangle the component processes of WM and the developmental trajectories of these components.
先前的研究表明，患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的个体可能存在工作记忆（WM）问题，但潜在干扰的本质仍不清楚。最近一项研究（博德纳等人，2019年）发现，患有ASD的年轻成年人工作记忆能力完好，但在有效过滤和分配注意力的能力方面存在干扰。本研究的目的是扩展这项工作，并评估患有ASD的青少年在工作记忆能力和注意力分配能力方面的潜在干扰。38名年龄在11至15岁之间患有ASD的青少年和39名无ASD的青少年完成了一项计算机化工作记忆任务。简而言之，向参与者展示由四个或六个彩色刺激物（圆形和方形）组成的视觉阵列。短暂延迟后，对其中一个刺激物的记忆进行探测。重要的是，事先告知参与者，其中一种形状（如圆形）比另一种形状（如方形）更有可能被探测到——因此，主要关注高频形状在策略上是有益的。与无ASD组相比，ASD组的整体工作记忆能力较低。然而，在注意力分配方面未发现组间差异。在患有ASD的青少年中，也没有证据表明工作记忆表现存在性别相关差异。结合先前的研究结果，目前的结果表明，患有ASD的青少年在工作记忆能力方面存在干扰，这种干扰在成年后会得到解决。未来需要进行纵向研究，以进一步厘清工作记忆的组成过程以及这些组成部分的发展轨迹。
