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The Task Support Hypothesis (TSH, Bowler et al. Neuropsychologia 35:65-70 1997) states that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show better memory when test procedures provide support for retrieval. The present study aimed to see whether this principle also applied at encoding. Twenty participants with high-functioning ASD and 20 matched comparison participants studied arrays of 112 words over four trials. Words were arranged either under hierarchically embedded category headings (e.g. Instruments-String-Plucked-Violin) or randomly. Both groups showed similar overall recall and better recall for the hierarchically organised words. However, the ASD participants made less use of information about relations between words and more use of item-specific information in their recall, confirming earlier reports of relational difficulties in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single trial methods reveal unimpaired free recall of unrelated words in Asperger's syndrome (AS). When repeated trials are used (free recall learning), typical individuals show improved recall over trials, subjective organisation of material (SO) and a correlation between free recall and SO. We tested oral (Experiment 1) and written (Experiment 2) free recall over 16 trials in adults with AS and typical individuals. Across both experiments AS participants showed marginally diminished recall. Poorer SO was seen in the Asperger group only in Experiment 2, but in both experiments, individual differences in SO in the Asperger group were less likely to converge over trials. This lack of convergence suggests that the AS group organise material in idiosyncratic ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hippocampus is involved in many cognitive domains which are difficult for autistic individuals. Our previous study using a Structural Learning task that has been shown to depend on hippocampal functioning found that structural learning is diminished in autistic adults (Ring et al., 2017). The aim of the present study was to examine whether those results can be replicated in and extended to a sample of autistic and non-autistic children. We tested 43 autistic children and 38 non-autistic children with a subsample of 25 autistic and 28 non-autistic children who were well-matched on IQ. The children took part in a Simple Discrimination task which a simpler form of compound learning, and a Structural Learning task. We expected both groups to perform similarly in Simple Discrimination but reduced performance by the autism group on the Structural Learning task, which is what we found in both the well-matched and the non-matched sample. However, contrary to our prediction and the findings from autistic adults in our previous study, autistic children demonstrated a capacity for Structural Learning and showed an overall better performance in the tasks than was seen in earlier studies. We discuss developmental differences in autism as well as the role of executive functions that may have contributed to better than predicted task performance in this study., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Abstract: Anxiety disorders commonly occur in autism. Existing studies implicate intolerance of uncertainty, alexithymia, sensory processing differences and emotion regulation difficulties as influencing factors of anxiety in autism. To date, a few studies have considered the combination of these factors within the same sample. This study used structural equation modelling to test the prediction that intolerance of uncertainty and emotion regulation constitute more direct causes of anxiety in autism that mediate the influences of sensory processing difference and alexithymia as more sequential contributing factors. Autistic (n = 86) and non-autistic adults (n = 100) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires. Only when applied to each group separately, the broad predictions of the model were confirmed for the autistic group following data-driven additions of paths between sensory processing difference and anxiety and alexithymia implying that sensory processing difference contribute indirectly as well as directly to individual differences in anxiety. For the non-autistic group, model fit could only be achieved after removing autism-related traits and sensory processing differences as predictors of anxiety. These results suggest that aetiology and expression of anxiety in autism partially overlap with what is observed in the general population except that sensory processing differences appear to play a relatively unique role in the context of autism.

Background: Schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties in theory of mind (ToM). We examined group differences in performance on a ToM-related test and associations with an estimated IQ., Methods: Participants [ N = 1227, SZ ( n = 563), ASD ( n = 159), and controls ( n = 505), 32.2% female] completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and assessments of cognitive ability. Associations between IQ and group on RMET were investigated with regression analyses., Results: SZ ( d = 0.73, p < 0.001) and ASD ( d = 0.37, p < 0.001) performed significantly worse on the RMET than controls. SZ performed significantly worse than ASD ( d = 0.32, p = 0.002). Adding IQ to the model, SZ ( d = 0.60, p < 0.001) and ASD ( d = 0.44, p < 0.001) continued to perform significantly worse than controls, but no longer differed from each other ( d = 0.13, p = 0.30). Small significant negative correlations between symptom severity and RMET performance were found in SZ (PANSS positive: r = -0.10, negative: r = -0.11, both p < 0.05). A small non-significant negative correlation was found for Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores and RMET in ASD ( r = -0.08, p = 0.34)., Conclusions: SZ and ASD are characterized by impairments in RMET. IQ contributed significantly to RMET performance and accounted for group differences in RMET between SZ and ASD. This suggests that non-social cognitive ability needs to be included in comparative studies of the two disorders.

We used the auditory roving oddball to investigate whether individual differences in self-reported anxiety influence event-related potential (ERP) activity related to sensory gating and mismatch negativity (MMN). The state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) was used to assess the effects of anxiety on the ERPs for auditory change detection and information filtering in a sample of thirty-six healthy participants. The roving oddball paradigm involves presentation of stimulus trains of auditory tones with certain frequencies followed by trains of tones with different frequencies. Enhanced negative mid-latency response (130-230 ms post-stimulus) was marked at the deviant (first tone) and the standard (six or more repetitions) tone at Fz, indicating successful mismatch negativity (MMN). In turn, the first and second tone in a stimulus train were subject to sensory gating at the Cz electrode site as a response to the second stimulus was suppressed at an earlier latency (40-80 ms). We used partial correlations and analyses of covariance to investigate the influence of state and trait anxiety on these two processes. Higher trait anxiety exhibited enhanced MMN amplitude (more negative) ( F (1,33) = 14.259, p = 6.323 × 10 -6 , η p 2 = 0.302), whereas state anxiety reduced sensory gating ( F (1,30) = 13.117, p = 0.001, η p 2 = 0.304). Our findings suggest that high trait-anxious participants demonstrate hypervigilant change detection to deviant tones that appear more salient, whereas increased state anxiety associates with failure to filter out irrelevant stimuli.

Background: Autistic individuals might undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination for clinical concerns or research. Increased sensory stimulation, lack of appropriate environmental adjustments, or lack of streamlined communication in the MRI suite may pose challenges to autistic patients and render MRI scans inaccessible. This study aimed at (i) exploring the MRI scan experiences of autistic adults in the United Kingdom; (ii) identifying barriers and enablers toward successful and safe MRI examinations; (iii) assessing autistic individuals' satisfaction with MRI service; and (iv) informing future recommendations for practice improvement., Methods: We distributed an online survey to the autistic community on social media, using snowball sampling. Inclusion criteria were: being older than 16, have an autism diagnosis or self-diagnosis, self-reported capacity to consent, and having had an MRI scan in the United Kingdom. We used descriptive statistics for demographics, inferential statistics for group comparisons/correlations, and content analysis for qualitative data., Results: We received 112 responses. A total of 29.6% of the respondents reported not being sent any information before the scan. Most participants (68%) confirmed that radiographers provided detailed information on the day of the examination, but only 17.1% reported that radiographers offered some reasonable environmental adjustments. Only 23.2% of them confirmed they disclosed their autistic identity when booking MRI scanning. We found that quality of communication, physical environment, patient emotions, staff training, and confounding societal factors impacted their MRI experiences. Autistic individuals rated their overall MRI experience as neutral and reported high levels of claustrophobia (44.8%)., Conclusion: This study highlighted a lack of effective communication and coordination of care, either between health care services or between patients and radiographers, and lack of reasonable adjustments as vital for more accessible and person-centered MRI scanning for autistic individuals. Enablers of successful scans included effective communication, adjusted MRI environment, scans tailored to individuals' needs/preferences, and well-trained staff., Competing Interests: No competing financial interests exist., (Copyright 2023, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.)

Lay Abstract: Autistic young people experience poorer mental health and well-being compared to their non-autistic peers. Navigating the complex social, academic, procedural and sensory aspects of school may be particularly challenging for autistic young people and contribute to poorer mental well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented school changes and provided a unique opportunity to gather caregiver's and young people's perspectives on the impact of school and pandemic-related school changes on the well-being of both autistic and non-autistic young people. We asked for the views of caregivers and young people aged 11-18 years gathered across three timepoints between May and December 2020. Their responses revealed both benefits and challenges associated with school changes. Insights into possible lessons from the pandemic and recommendations for more flexible, individualised and strengths-based educational practices are discussed.

Background: The Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ) gives insight into sensory processing differences (hypo- and hyper-sensitivity across modalities), which is a clinically defining characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Because there is no validated German version of this instrument, this study aimed at validating the German GSQ. Further, a replication of the GSQ's sensory processing differences was intended., Methods: University students of Technische Universität or Universitätsklinikum in Dresden, Germany, were recruited via email distribution or the university homepage and 297 German-speaking students completed the online survey, comprising the German GSQ, Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and Symptom-Checklist (SCL-90). For validation of the German GSQ, confirmatory factor analyses followed by exploratory factor analyses were applied., Results: The German GSQ has moderate to low validity, good to acceptable reliability, and a different internal structure from the original GSQ. Replicating the sensory processing differences in students with higher and lower AQ was not successful., Conclusions: Results indicate that the GSQ, developed especially for individuals with ASD, is less informative for the general population if there are not enough individuals with higher AQ scores in the sample., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Loneliness is common in psychosis and occurs along a continuum. Here we investigate inter-relationships between loneliness, three-dimensional schizotypy, and depressive symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample included 507 university students (48.3% participated before and 51.7% during the COVID-19 pandemic) who completed the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale-Brief, the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms depression scale and the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale. Schizotypy and depression scores were regressed onto loneliness individually and in multiple regressions. The cohorts did not differ in any of the schizotypy domains (all p  > .29). Depressive symptoms ( p  = .05) and loneliness ( p  = .006) were higher during the pandemic than before. Across cohorts, loneliness was significantly associated with positive ( β  = 0.23, p  < .001), negative ( β  = 0.44, p  < .001), and disorganised schizotypy ( β  = 0.44, p  < .001), and with depression ( β  = 0.72, p  < .001). Schizotypy together explained a significant amount of variance in loneliness (R 2  = 0.26), with significant associations with positive ( β  = -0.09, p  = .047), negative ( β  = 0.31, p  < .001) and disorganised schizotypy ( β  = 0.34, p  < .001). When depression was included ( β  = 0.69, p  < .001), only positive ( β  = -0.09, p  = .008) and negative schizotypy ( β  = 0.22, p  < .001) significantly predicted loneliness. When all schizotypy dimensions and depression were considered together, only negative schizotypy and depression significantly predicted loneliness. Loneliness and depressive symptoms were higher during the pandemic, but this did not relate to cohort differences in schizotypy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Recently, we have shown that pupil dilation during a recognition memory task can serve as an index of memory retrieval difficulties in autism. At the time of publication, we were unaware of specific data-analysis methods that can be used to shed further light on the origins of such memory related pupil dilation. Specifically, by distinguishing "tonic" from "phasic" changes in pupil dilation and considering their temporal progression, it is possible to draw inferences about the functional integrity of a locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system (LC-NE) that is known to play a key role in regulating memory encoding and retrieval processes. We therefore apply these analyses to our previously published eye-tracking data of adults with ASD (N = 24) and neurotypical development (TD, N = 30) during the recognition memory task. In this re-analysis, we related pupil dilation during encoding and retrieval to recognition accuracy in a per-trial analysis of linear mixed models. In ASD, we replicated attenuated recognition accuracy, which was accompanied by attenuated pupil dilation during encoding and retrieval. Group differences in pupil dilation during retrieval occurred late during the trial (after 1.75 s) and indicated an altered top-down processing like attenuated attribution of semantic salience in response to previously encoded stimuli. In addition, only in the ASD group were higher pupil dilation during encoding and lower pupil dilation during retrieval associated with decreased recognition accuracy. This supports altered modulation of memory encoding and retrieval in ASD, with LC-NE phasic activity as promising underlying mechanism. LAY SUMMARY: We investigated the changes of pupil size during memory testing in autism spectrum disorder. Adults with ASD remembered fewer items correctly than neurotypical individuals (TD). This reduced memory was related to increased pupillary responses at study and decreased pupil dilation at test only for adults with ASD indicating a different modulation of memory by the locus coeruleus., (© 2022 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Consistent with current models of embodied emotions, this study investigates whether the somatosensory system shows reduced sensitivity to facial emotional expressions in autistic compared with neurotypical individuals, and whether these differences are independent from between-group differences in visual processing of facial stimuli. To investigate the dynamics of somatosensory activity over and above visual carryover effects, we recorded EEG activity from two groups of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or typically developing (TD) humans (male and female), while they were performing a facial emotion discrimination task and a control gender task. To probe the state of the somatosensory system during face processing, in 50% of trials we evoked somatosensory activity by delivering task-irrelevant tactile taps on participants' index finger, 105 ms after visual stimulus onset. Importantly, we isolated somatosensory from concurrent visual activity by subtracting visual responses from activity evoked by somatosensory and visual stimuli. Results revealed significant task-dependent group differences in mid-latency components of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). ASD participants showed a selective reduction of SEP amplitudes (P100) compared with TD during emotion task; and TD, but not ASD, showed increased somatosensory responses during emotion compared with gender discrimination. Interestingly, autistic traits, but not alexithymia, significantly predicted SEP amplitudes evoked during emotion, but not gender, task. Importantly, we did not observe the same pattern of group differences in visual responses. Our study provides direct evidence of reduced recruitment of the somatosensory system during emotion discrimination in ASD and suggests that this effect is not a byproduct of differences in visual processing. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The somatosensory system is involved in embodiment of visually presented facial expressions of emotion. Despite autism being characterized by difficulties in emotion-related processing, no studies have addressed whether this extends to embodied representations of others' emotions. By dissociating somatosensory activity from visual evoked potentials, we provide the first evidence of reduced recruitment of the somatosensory system during emotion discrimination in autistic participants, independently from differences in visual processing between typically developing and autism spectrum disorder participants. Our study uses a novel methodology to reveal the neural dynamics underlying difficulties in emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder and provides direct evidence that embodied simulation of others' emotional expressions operates differently in autistic individuals., (Copyright © 2022 the authors.)

The Intra-Extra-dimensional set shift task (IEDS) is a widely used test of learning and attention, believed to be sensitive to aspects of executive function. The task proceeds through a number of stages, and it is generally claimed that patterns of errors across stages can be used to discriminate between reduced attention switching and more general reductions in rates of learning. A number of papers have used the IEDS task to argue for specific attention shifting difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Schizophrenia, however, it remains unclear how well the IEDS really differentiates between reduced attention shifting and other causes of impaired performance. To address this issue, we introduce a simple computational model of performance in the IEDS task, designed to separate the competing effects of attention shifting and general learning rate. We fit the model to data from ASD and comparison individuals matched on age and IQ, as well as to data from four previous studies which used the IEDS task. Model fits do not show consistent evidence for reductions in attention shifting rates in ASD and Schizophrenia. Instead, we find performance is better explained by differences in learning rate, particularly from punishment, which we show correlates with IQ. We, therefore, argue that the IEDS task is not a good measure of attention shifting in clinical groups. LAY SUMMARY: The Intra-Extra-Dimensional Set shift task (IEDS) is often given to autistic individuals, who tend to make more errors relative to comparison groups. This higher error rate is taken to mean that autistic individuals struggle with attention control. Our computational model of the IEDS shows that the performance of ASD and some other clinical groups can be explained instead by differences in learning rate, rather than differences in attention control., (© 2021 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

This study tested whether adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show the same pattern of difficulties and absence of age-related differences in short-term memory (STM) as those that have been reported in episodic long-term memory (LTM). Fifty-three adults with ASD (age range: 25-65 years) were compared to 52 age-, biological sex-, and intelligence-matched typically developing (TD; age range: 21-67 years) adults on three STM span tasks, which tested STM performance for letters (Verbal), grid locations (Visuospatial), or letters in grid locations (Multimodal). A subsample of 34 TD and 33 ASD participants ranging in age from 25 to 64 years completed a fourth Multimodal Integration task. We also administered the Color Trails Test as a measure of executive function. ASD participants' accuracy was lower than that of the TD participants on the three span tasks (Cohen's d: 0.26-0.50). The Integration task difference was marginally significant (p = .07) but had a moderate effect size (Cohen's d = 0.50). Regression analyses confirmed reduced STM performance only for older TD participants. Analyses also indicated that executive processes played a greater role in the ASD group's performance. The demonstration of similar difficulties and age-related patterning of STM in ASD to those documented for LTM and the greater recruitment of executive processes by older ASD participants on the Integration task suggest a compensatory role of frontal processes both as a means of achieving undiminished task performance and as a possible protection against older age cognitive decline in ASD. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm this. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1970-1984. © 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC. LAY SUMMARY: Little is known about short-term memory (STM) in younger and older adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study tested different kinds of STM and showed that ASD adults remembered shorter sequences of letters, crosses, or letters in grid cells less well than matched participants with typical development. However, older ASD individuals performed similarly to younger ASD individuals, nor showing the reduction in performance usually seen with older age. The data suggest that ASD individuals use different underlying mechanisms when performing the tasks and that this might help protect their memory as they grow older., (© 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

In the domain of memory, autism is characterized by difficulties in explicitly remembering the specific order of stimuli, whereas implicit serial order memory appears to be preserved. This pattern is of considerable interest because serial order memory is known to play a critical role in children's language development. Currently, however, few paradigms exist that can effectively probe serial order memory across heterogeneous groups of children, including those who are minimally verbal. We present two experiments, involving 39 adults (20 ASD; 19 TD) and 130 children (86 ASD; 44 TD), that address this issue using an eye-tracking paradigm, which simply required participants to "watch out for a bunny" that appeared in repeating sequences of screen locations. The adults in Experiment 1 all had normative IQs, whereas Experiment 2 included children with and without substantial language and intellectual difficulties. In both experiments gaze latencies and anticipatory fixations to the bunny indicated reliable repetition learning effects in the TD but not the ASD groups. Importantly, we were able to acquire reliable data from around half of the children with significant language impairments in Experiment 2, indicating that the paradigm can shed light on important learning processes in this underrepresented group. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of memory in ASD as well as for the utility of eye-tracking technology to probe repetition learning effects in autism. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1929-1946. © 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC. LAY SUMMARY: Remembering the specific order of stimuli plays an important role in language development and is thought to be a source of difficulty for autistic individuals. Research in this area, however, rarely includes autistic participants who are minimally verbal. Here we develop an eye-tracking paradigm that demonstrates serial order learning difficulties across the autism spectrum. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the role of memory difficulties in the varied language profiles across the autism spectrum., (© 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Rewards act as a motivator for positive behavior and learning. Although compounding evidence indicates that reward processing operates differently in autistic individuals who do not have co-occurring learning disabilities, little is known about individuals who have such difficulties or other complex needs. This study aimed first to assess the feasibility of using an adapted reward devaluation paradigm to examine basic reward processes in this underrepresented population, and second to investigate whether autistic children and adolescents with complex needs would show dynamic behavioral changes in response to changes in the motivational value of a reward. Twenty-seven autistic children and adolescents with complex needs and 20 typically developing 5-year-old children took part in the study. Participants were presented with two visual cues on a touchscreen laptop, which triggered the delivery of a video, music, or physical reward. One of the rewards was then presented in abundance to decrease its motivational value. Participants showed decreased interest in the video and music rewards after devaluation. The experimental setup was found to be suitable to test individuals with complex needs, although recommendations are made for the use of physical rewards. The results suggest that autistic participants with complex needs demonstrate goal-directed behavior and that it is feasible to develop experimental paradigms that can shed important light on learning processes that are fundamental to many education and intervention strategies for this population. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1915-1928. © 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC. LAY SUMMARY: We adapted an experimental task to conduct research with autistic children and adolescents with complex needs, who remain grossly underrepresented in autism research. We found that once a reward was presented in great quantity, participants were less motivated to obtain it, showing that they adapted their behavior to changes in the value of that reward. This is an important finding to help promote learning and design better interventions for this population., (© 2020 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that a plausible contributory factor of structural language impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is impaired declarative memory. We hypothesized that familiarity and recollection (subserving semantic and episodic memory, respectively) are both impaired in autistic individuals with clinically significant language impairment and learning disability (ASD LI/LD ); whereas recollection is selectively impaired in autistic individuals with typical language (ASD TL ). Teenagers with ASD LI/LD (n = 19) and primary school age children with ASD TL (n = 26) were compared with teenagers with learning disability (LD) (n = 26) without autism, and primary school aged typically developing (TD) children (n = 32). Both experiments provided strong support for the hypothesized links between declarative memory processes and lexical-semantic facets of language in the two autistic groups, but not in the TD group. Additional findings of interest were that declarative memory processes and lexical-semantic knowledge were also linked in the LD group and that the ASD groups-and to a lesser extent the LD group-may have compensated for declarative memory impairments using spared visual-perceptual abilities, a finding with potential educational implications. Relative difficulties with familiarity and recollection in ASD LI/LD and LD may help explain structural language impairment, as investigated here, but also the broader learning disabilities found in these populations. Autism Res 2020. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1947-1958. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Language impairment and learning disability affect 45% of the autistic population yet the factors that may be contributing to them is remarkably under-researched. To date there are no explanations of the lexical semantic (word meaning) abnormalities observed in ASD. We found that declarative memory is associated with lexical semantic knowledge in autism and learning disability but not in typical development. Difficulties with declarative memory may also be compensated for using visual-perceptual abilities by autistic and learning-disabled adolescents, which has positive implications for educationalists., (© 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Lay Abstract: Anxiety in autism is an important target for psychological therapies because it is very common and because it significantly impacts upon quality of life and well-being. Growing evidence suggests that cognitive behaviour therapies and mindfulness-based therapies can help autistic individuals learn to manage feelings of anxiety but access to such therapies remains problematic. In the current pilot study, we examined whether existing online cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness-based therapy self-help tools can help reduce anxiety in autistic adults. Specifically, 35 autistic adults were asked to try either an existing online cognitive behaviour therapy (n = 16) or mindfulness-based therapy (n = 19) programme while a further 19 autistic adults served as a waitlist comparison group. A first important finding was that 23 of the 35 (66%) participants who tried the online tools completed them, suggesting that such tools are, in principle, acceptable to many autistic adults. In addition, adults in the cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness-based therapy conditions reported significant decreases in anxiety over 3 and to some extent also 6 months that were less apparent in the waitlist group of participants. On broader measures of mental health and well-being, the benefits of the online tools were less apparent. Overall, the results suggest that online self-help cognitive behaviour therapy and mindfulness-based therapy tools should be explored further as a means of providing cost-effective mental health support to at least those autistic individuals who can engage effectively with such online tools.

This study investigated the pupil Old/New effect in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD). Participants studied verbal and visual meaningful and meaningless materials in black and white on a computer screen. Pupil sizes were measured while participants performed a Remember (episodic memory with context)/Know (semantic memory, no context) recognition memory test. ASD compared to TD individuals showed significantly reduced recognition rates for all materials. Both groups showed better memory for visual compared to verbal (picture superiority effect) and meaningful compared to meaningless materials. A pupil size ratio (pupil size for test item divided by baseline) for old (studied) and new (unstudied) materials indicated larger pupils for old compared to new materials only for the TD but not the ASD group. Pupil size in response to old versus new items was positively related to recognition accuracy, confirming that the pupil Old/New effect reflects a memory phenomenon in the ASD group. In addition, this study suggests an involvement of the noradrenergic neurotransmitter system in the abnormal hippocampal functioning in ASD. Implications of these findings, as well as their underlying neurophysiology, will be discussed in relation to current theories of memory in ASD. Autism Res 2020, 13: 627-640. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Most measures of memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) depend on verbal answers. In addition to these verbal answers, this study measured the size of the participants' pupil in response to studied and unfamiliar materials revealing memory difficulties in ASD. Measuring pupil size works nonverbally, outside of conscious awareness and forms the basis of studies on less verbal persons with ASD. Mechanisms and brain regions underlying memory differences in ASD are discussed., (© 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Quattrocki and Friston (2014) argued that abnormalities in interoception-the process of representing one's internal physiological states-could lie at the heart of autism, because of the critical role interoception plays in the ontogeny of social-affective processes. This proposal drew criticism from proponents of the alexithymia hypothesis, who argue that social-affective and underlying interoceptive impairments are not a feature of autism per se, but of alexithymia (a condition characterized by difficulties describing and identifying one's own emotions), which commonly co-occurs with autism. Despite the importance of this debate for our understanding of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and of the role of interoceptive impairments in psychopathology, more generally, direct empirical evidence is scarce and inconsistent. Experiment 1 examined in a sample of 137 neurotypical (NT) individuals the association among autistic traits, alexithymia, and interoceptive accuracy (IA) on a standard heartbeat-tracking measure of IA. In Experiment 2, IA was assessed in 46 adults with ASD (27 of whom had clinically significant alexithymia) and 48 NT adults. Experiment 1 confirmed strong associations between autistic traits and alexithymia, but yielded no evidence to suggest that either was associated with interoceptive difficulties. Similarly, Experiment 2 provided no evidence for interoceptive impairments in autistic adults, irrespective of any co-occurring alexithymia. Bayesian analyses consistently supported the null hypothesis. The observations pose a significant challenge to notions that interoceptive impairments constitute a core feature of either ASD or alexithymia, at least as far as the direct perception of interoceptive signals is concerned. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

The Vygotsky Blocks Test assesses problem-solving styles within a theoretical framework for the development of higher mental processes devised by Vygotsky. Because both the theory and the associated test situate cognitive development within the child's social and linguistic context, they address conceptual issues around the developmental relation between language and thought that are pertinent to development in autism. Our aim was to document the performance of adults with autism spectrum disorder on the Vygotsky Blocks Test, and our results showed that they made more errors than the typically developing participants and that these errors correlated with performance IQ. The autism spectrum disorder group also required more cues than the typically developing group to discern the conceptual structure of the blocks, a pattern that correlated with Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule-Communication and Imagination/Creativity sub-scales. When asked to categorize the blocks in new ways, the autism spectrum disorder participants developed fewer principles on which to base new categorizations, which in contrast to the typically developing group correlated with verbal IQ and with the Imagination/Creativity sub-scale of the ADOS. These results are in line with a number of existing findings in the autism spectrum disorder literature and confirm that conceptualization in autism spectrum disorder seems to rely more on non-verbal and less on imaginative processes than in typically developing individuals. The findings represent first steps to the possibility of outlining a testable account of psychological development in autism spectrum disorder that integrates verbal, non-verbal and social factors into the transition from elementary to higher level processes.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present difficulties in forming relations among items and context. This capacity for relational binding is also involved in spatial navigation and research on this topic in ASD is scarce and inconclusive. Using a computerised version of the Morris Water Maze task, ASD participants showed particular difficulties in performing viewpoint independent (allocentric) navigation, leaving viewpoint dependent navigation (egocentric) intact. Further analyses showed that navigation deficits were not related to poor visual short-term memory or mental rotation in the ASD group. The results further confirm the need of autistic individuals for support at retrieval and have important implications for the design of signposts and maps.

To resolve some of the inconsistencies in existing research into spatial navigation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we tested two large age- and ability-matched groups of ASD and typically developing (TD) participants for their spatial navigation abilities in a route learning task, which has been shown to shed light on the strategies participants employ when navigating complex environments. Participants studied a route through a virtual maze by watching a short video of a first-person perspective navigating a maze. The maze included four four-way intersections that were each marked with two unique landmarks in two corners of the intersection. At test, static images of the intersections, either as seen during the video or as approached from a different direction, were presented and participants had to indicate in which direction they would need to travel (straight, left, or right) in order to follow the originally studied route. On both types of test trials, the ASD group performed worse and their difficulties were related to reduced cognitive flexibility. Eye-movement data and follow-up item-memory tests suggested that navigation difficulties may have been related to differences in attention during encoding and less spontaneous use of landmarks as cues for navigation. Spatial navigation performance was best predicted by memory for landmarks as well as by executive functions. The results are discussed in relation to theories of underlying navigation-related brain regions. More research is needed to disentangle the influence of executive functions, memory and attention on spatial navigation. Autism Res 2018, 11: 798-810. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Lay Summary: Navigating an environment is difficult for people with ASD independent of whether they are travelling in the same or in a different direction from that which they originally studied. The present study suggests that flexibility in alternating travel directions, difficulties in remembering landmarks as well as reduced attention to landmarks while learning a route play a role in the navigation difficulties in ASD. Guidance at route learning might help autistic individuals to improve their ability to navigate in their environments., (© 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Interoception is the process of perceiving afferent signals arising from within the body including heart rate (HR), gastric signals, etc., and has been described as a mechanism crucially involved in the creation of self-awareness and selfhood. The heartbeat perception task is a tool to measure individuals' interoceptive accuracy (IAcc). IAcc correlates positively with measures of self-awareness and with attributes including emotional sensitivity, empathy, prosocial behavior, and efficient decision making. IAcc is only moderate in the general population, and attempts to identify groups of people who might have higher IAcc due to their specific training (e.g., yoga, meditation) have not been successful. However, a recent study with musicians suggests that those trained in the arts might exhibit high IAcc. Here, we tested IAcc in 20 professional dancers and 20 female control participants on a heartbeat perception task. Dancers had a higher IAcc, and this effect was independent of their lower heart rates (a proxy measure of physical fitness), counting ability, and knowledge about HR. An additional between-groups analysis after a median split in the dancer group (based on years of dance experience) showed that junior dancers' IAcc differed from controls, and senior dancers' IAcc was higher than both junior dancers and controls. General art experience correlated positively with IAcc. No correlations were found between IAcc and questionnaire measures of empathy, emotional experience, and alexithymia. These findings are discussed in the context of current theories of interoception and emotion-highlighting the features of arts training that might be related to IAcc., (© 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Accumulating evidence indicates that co-occurring alexithymia underlies several facets of the social-emotional difficulties common in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The mechanisms involved, however, remain poorly understood because measuring alexithymia relies heavily on self-report. To address this issue, carefully matched groups of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and comparison participants rated 70 emotion-inducing pictures on subjectively experienced arousal while skin conductance responses were monitored objectively. The results demonstrated reliable correlations between these subjective and objective measures, and in both groups, around 25% of individual differences in this correlation (i.e. in emotion-relevant interoception) were accounted for by self-reported alexithymia. In the context of the wider literature, this suggests that alexithymia involves a disruption in how physiological arousal modulates the subjective experience of feelings in those with and without a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Since mindfulness-based therapies foster greater awareness of thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations, the findings also have implications for how the symptoms and consequences of alexithymia (e.g. anxiety) might be ameliorated.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is generally associated with difficulties in contextual source memory but not single item memory. There are surprising inconsistencies in the literature, however, that the current study seeks to address by examining item and source memory in age and ability matched groups of 22 ASD and 21 comparison adults. Results show that group differences in source memory are moderated by task demands but not by individual differences in verbal ability, executive function or item memory. By contrast, unexpected group differences in item memory could largely be explained by individual differences in source memory. These observations shed light on the factors underlying inconsistent findings in the memory literature in ASD, which has important implications for theory and practice.

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) are known to be characterised by abnormalities in attentional processes, but there are inconsistencies in the literature that remain unresolved. This article considers whether perceptual resource limitations play a role in moderating attentional abnormalities in SSD. According to perceptual load theory, perceptual resource limitations can lead to attenuated or superior performance on dual-task paradigms depending on whether participants are required to process, or attempt to ignore, secondary stimuli. If SSD is associated with perceptual resource limitations, and if it represents the extreme end of an otherwise normally distributed neuropsychological phenotype, schizotypal traits in the general population should lead to disproportionate performance costs on dual-task paradigms as a function of the perceptual task demands. To test this prediction, schizotypal traits were quantified via the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) in 74 healthy volunteers, who also completed a dual-task signal detection paradigm that required participants to detect central and peripheral stimuli across conditions that varied in the overall number of stimuli presented. The results confirmed decreasing performance as the perceptual load of the task increased. More importantly, significant correlations between SPQ scores and task performance confirmed that increased schizotypal traits, particularly in the cognitive-perceptual domain, are associated with greater performance decrements under increasing perceptual load. These results confirm that attentional difficulties associated with SSD extend sub-clinically into the general population and suggest that cognitive-perceptual schizotypal traits may represent a risk factor for difficulties in the regulation of attention under increasing perceptual load.

Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate good memory for single items but difficulties remembering contextual information related to these items. Recently, we found compromised explicit but intact implicit retrieval of object-location information in ASD (Ring et al. Autism Res 8(5):609-619, 2015). Eye-movement data collected from a sub-sample of the participants are the focus of the current paper. At encoding, trial-by-trial viewing durations predicted subsequent retrieval success only in typically developing (TD) participants. During retrieval, TD compared to ASD participants looked significantly longer at previously studied object-locations compared to alternative locations. These findings extend similar observations recently reported by Cooper et al. (Cognition 159:127-138, 2017a) and demonstrate that eye-movement data can shed important light on the source and nature of relational memory difficulties in ASD.

Structural learning is fundamental to the formation of cognitive maps that are necessary for learning, memory, and spatial navigation. It also enables successful navigation of the social world, which is something that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) find particularly difficult. To master these situations, a person needs to bind pieces of information to one another and to consider the context in which experiences happen. Such binding is a capacity of the hippocampus. Although altered hippocampal function has for long been suspected to play a role in the etiology of ASD, the relevant evidence has remained inconclusive because few behavioral tests that are known to specifically necessitate preserved hippocampal function have been employed in studies of ASD. To address this gap in the literature, a total sample of 57 pairs of age and ability matched ASD and comparison participants was divided into 3 subsamples who were asked either to complete structural learning, or 1 of 2 configural learning control tasks (biconditional discrimination and transverse patterning) drawn from animal research. As predicted, ASD adults demonstrated specific difficulty with structural learning but not with other forms of configural learning. These differences were not attributable to decreased attentional shifting or increased perseveration, which would have indicated atypical frontal modulation of hippocampal processes. Instead, the observations implicate atypical hippocampal functioning as the source of structural learning difficulties in ASD. The data suggest that disturbances in domain-general cognitive processes such as structural learning, caused by altered hippocampal function, play a critical role in the etiology of ASD. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Establishing whether implicit responses to emotional cues are intact in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is fundamental to ascertaining why their emotional understanding is compromised. We used a temporal bisection task to assess for responsiveness to face and wildlife images that varied in emotional salience. There were no significant differences between an adult ASD and comparison group, with both showing implicit overestimation of emotional stimuli. Further, there was no correlation between overestimation of emotional stimuli and autistic traits in undergraduate students. These data do not suggest a fundamental insensitivity to the arousing content of emotional images in ASD, or in individuals with a high degree of autistic traits. The findings have implications for understanding how emotional stimuli are processed in ASD.

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to show distinctive, atypical acoustic patterns of speech. These behaviors affect social interactions and social development and could represent a non-invasive marker for ASD. We systematically reviewed the literature quantifying acoustic patterns in ASD. Search terms were: (prosody OR intonation OR inflection OR intensity OR pitch OR fundamental frequency OR speech rate OR voice quality OR acoustic) AND (autis* OR Asperger). Results were filtered to include only: empirical studies quantifying acoustic features of vocal production in ASD, with a sample size >2, and the inclusion of a neurotypical comparison group and/or correlations between acoustic measures and severity of clinical features. We identified 34 articles, including 30 univariate studies and 15 multivariate machine-learning studies. We performed meta-analyses of the univariate studies, identifying significant differences in mean pitch and pitch range between individuals with ASD and comparison participants (Cohen's d of 0.4-0.5 and discriminatory accuracy of about 61-64%). The multivariate studies reported higher accuracies than the univariate studies (63-96%). However, the methods used and the acoustic features investigated were too diverse for performing meta-analysis. We conclude that multivariate studies of acoustic patterns are a promising but yet unsystematic avenue for establishing ASD markers. We outline three recommendations for future studies: open data, open methods, and theory-driven research. Autism Res 2017, 10: 384-407. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

To clarify the role of item and order memory in the serial recall of adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we carried out 2 experiments in which adults with ASD and comparison participants matched on chronological age and verbal IQ saw sequences of 7 dots appear sequentially in a 3 × 4 grid. In Experiment 1 (serial recall), they had to recall the locations and the presentation order of the dots by tapping locations on an empty grid. In Experiment 2, (order reconstruction) the studied dots were provided at test and participants had to touch them in their order of appearance at study. Experiment 1 revealed diminished item and order recall in the ASD group; Experiment 2 revealed diminished order recall only when verbal IQ was controlled. The results support the view that people with ASD have particular difficulty with serial order recall but may use their language ability to achieve better serial recall performance. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

The present study shows how motor expertise increases individuals' sensitivity to others' affective body movement. This enhanced sensitivity is evident in the experts' behavior and physiology. Nineteen affective movement experts (professional ballet dancers) and 24 controls watched 96 video clips of emotionally expressive body movements while they performed an affect rating task (subjective response), and their galvanic skin response was recorded (physiological response). The movements in the clips were either sad or happy, and in half of the trials, movements were played in the order in which they are learned (forward presentation), and in the other half, movements were played backward (control condition). Results showed that motor expertise in affective body movement specifically modulated both behavioral and physiological sensitivity to others' affective body movement, and that this sensitivity is particularly strong when movements are shown in the way they are learnt (forward presentation). The evidence is discussed within current theories of proprioceptive arousal feedback and motor simulation accounts. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Emotional acceptance, alexithymia, and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) contribute to anxiety disorders in neurotypical populations. Their association with anxiety in people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has not been studied. We aimed to model the contributions of these constructs on the relationship between dimensional measures of autism and anxiety. Participants were 151 adults recruited from 2 sites, including those diagnosed with ASD (n = 76) and a matched comparison group (n = 75). All participants completed a battery of questionnaires measuring core autism symptoms, anxiety, emotional acceptance, alexithymia, and intolerance of uncertainty. Structural equation modeling with mediation was used to examine directional relationships among these variables. Autism symptoms directly predicted less emotional acceptance and increased alexithymia and IU. Alexithymia and acceptance were shown to explain 64% of the effect between autism symptom severity and anxiety level. This suggests that people with ASD experience increased levels of anxiety because they are more likely to react aversively to their emotional experiences, while lacking the ability to identify and understand their emotions. Developing and implementing mindfulness-based interventions aimed at assuaging alexithymia and IU, while increasing emotional acceptance, may be especially helpful in treating anxiety in ASD. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

Considerable research has addressed whether the cognitive and neural representations recruited by faces are similar to those engaged by other types of visual stimuli. For example, research has examined the extent to which objects of expertise recruit holistic representation and engage the fusiform face area. Little is known, however, about the domain-specificity of the exemplar pooling processes thought to underlie the acquisition of familiarity with particular facial identities. In the present study we sought to compare observers' ability to learn facial identities and handwriting styles from exposure to multiple exemplars. Crucially, while handwritten words and faces differ considerably in their topographic form, both learning tasks share a common exemplar pooling component. In our first experiment, we find that typical observers' ability to learn facial identities and handwriting styles from exposure to multiple exemplars correlates closely. In our second experiment, we show that observers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are impaired at both learning tasks. Our findings suggest that similar exemplar pooling processes are recruited when learning facial identities and handwriting styles. Models of exemplar pooling originally developed to explain face learning, may therefore offer valuable insights into exemplar pooling across a range of domains, extending beyond faces. Aberrant exemplar pooling, possibly resulting from structural differences in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, may underlie difficulties recognising familiar faces often experienced by individuals with ASD, and leave observers overly reliant on local details present in particular exemplars., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To explore early findings that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reduced scotopic ERG b-wave amplitudes., Methods: Light-adapted (LA) and dark-adapted (DA) ERGs were produced by a range of flash strengths that included and extended the ISCEV standard from two subject groups: a high-functioning ASD group N = 11 and a Control group N = 15 for DA and N = 14 for LA ERGs who were matched for mean age and range. Flash strengths ranged from DA -4.0 to 2.3 log phot cd s m(-2) and LA -0.5 to 1.0 log phot cd s m(-2), and Naka-Rushton curves were fitted to DA b-wave amplitude over the first growth limb (-4.0 to -1.0 log phot cd s m(-2)). The derived parameters (V max, K m and n) were compared between groups. Scotopic 15-Hz flicker ERGs (14.93 Hz) were recorded to 10 flash strengths presented in ascending order from -3.0 to 0.5 log Td s to assess the slow and fast rod pathways, respectively. LA 30-Hz flicker ERGs, oscillatory potentials (OPs) and the responses to prolonged 120-ms ON-OFF stimuli were also recorded., Results: The ISCEV LA b-wave amplitude produced by 0.5 log phot cd s m(-2) was lower in the ASD group (p < 0.001). Repeated measures ANOVA for the LA b-wave amplitude series forming the photopic hill was significantly (p = 0.01) different between groups. No group differences were observed for the distributions of the time to peaks of LA a-wave, b-wave or the photopic negative responses (phNR) (p > 0.08) to the single flash stimuli, but there was a significant difference in the distribution for the LA b-wave amplitudes (corrected p = 0.006). The prolonged 120-ms ON responses were smaller in the ASD group (corrected p = 0.003), but the OFF response amplitude (p > 0.6) and ON and OFF times to peaks (p > 0.4) were similar between groups. The LA OPs showed an earlier bifurcation of OP2 in the younger ASD participants; however, no other differences were apparent in the OPs or 30-Hz flicker waveforms. DA b-wave amplitudes fell below the control 5th centile of the controls for some individuals including four ASD participants (36 %) at the 1.5 log phot cd s m(-2) flash strength and two (18%) ASD participants at the lower -2 log phot cd s m(-2) flash strength. However, across the 13 flash strengths, there were no significant group differences for b-wave amplitude's growth (repeated measures ANOVA p = 0.83). Nor were there any significant differences between the groups for the Naka-Rushton parameters (p > 0.09). No group differences were observed in the 15-Hz scotopic flicker phase or amplitude (p > 0.1), DA ERG a-wave amplitude or time to peak (p > 26). The DA b-wave time to peak at 0.5 log phot cd s m(-2) was longer in the ASD group (p = 0.04)., Conclusion: Under LA conditions, the b-wave is reduced across the ASD group, along with the ON response of the prolonged flash ERG. Some ASD individuals also show subnormal DA ERG b-wave amplitudes. These exploratory findings suggest there is altered cone-ON bipolar signalling in ASD.

Research into memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) suggests intact item memory but difficulties in forming relations between items (Bowler, Gaigg, & Lind, 2011). In this study, we tested memory for items as well as for sequential, spatial, and associative relations between items with the same paradigm using abstract shapes in ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals. Participants studied shape triplets on a computer screen and memory was subsequently tested either for the individual items making up the triplets, the screen-locations, the order or the combinations of items presented at study. Contrary to our predictions, performance was significantly lower in the ASD group on all four tasks. The result raises questions about how intact item memory is in ASD, which role task complexity plays, and how item-specific versus relational processing affect task performance. One possibility is that TD individuals relied more on relational processing in the current study and might have therefore had an advantage over ASD individuals. This idea is supported by the result of a preliminary analysis of age-related differences in memory across the midadult lifespan in both groups. Age seems to affect order memory less in ASD compared with TD individuals where it leads to a significant decrease in performance. This might indicate a decrease in relational processing in TD but not ASD individuals with increasing age. More research is needed to answer questions about the change in cognition in ASD individuals across the lifespan., (© 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

This study tested implicit and explicit spatial relational memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Participants were asked to study pictures of rooms and pictures of daily objects for which locations were highlighted in the rooms. Participants were later tested for their memory of the object locations either by being asked to place objects back into their original locations or into new locations. Proportions of times when participants choose the previously studied locations for the objects irrespective of the instruction were used to derive indices of explicit and implicit memory [process-dissociation procedure, Jacoby, 1991, 1998]. In addition, participants performed object and location recognition and source memory tasks where they were asked about which locations belonged to the objects and which objects to the locations. The data revealed difficulty for ASD individuals in actively retrieving object locations (explicit memory) but not in subconsciously remembering them (implicit memory). These difficulties cannot be explained by difficulties in memory for objects or locations per se (i.e., the difficulty pertains to object-location relations). Together these observations lend further support to the idea that ASD is characterised by relatively circumscribed difficulties in relational rather than item-specific memory processes and show that these difficulties extend to the domain of spatial information. They also lend further support to the idea that memory difficulties in ASD can be reduced when support is provided at test., (© 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show intact recognition (supported procedure) but impaired recall (unsupported procedure) of incidentally-encoded context. Because this has not been demonstrated for temporal source, we compared the temporal and spatial source memory of adults with ASD and verbally matched typical adults. Because of difficulties with temporal processing in ASD, we predicted ASD adults would benefit from test support for location but not temporal occurrence of studied words. We found similar levels of recognition and source memory for both groups but there was a greater effect of support on memory for location source in the ASD group. The lack of an effect of support for temporal source may simply reflect a difficulty in operationalising temporal cues.

Memory functioning in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in the encoding of relational but not item information and difficulties in the recollection of contextually rich episodic memories but not in the retrieval of relatively context-free memories through processes of familiarity. The neural underpinnings of this profile and the extent to which encoding difficulties contribute to retrieval difficulties in ASD remain unclear. Using a paradigm developed by Addis and McAndrews [2006; Neuroimage, 33, 1194-1206] we asked adults with and without a diagnosis of ASD to study word-triplets during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning that varied in the number of category relations amongst component words. Performance at test confirmed attenuated recollection in the context of preserved familiarity based retrieval in ASD. The results also showed that recollection but not familiarity based retrieval increases as a function of category relations in word triads for both groups, indicating a close link between the encoding of relational information and recollection. This link was further supported by the imaging results, where blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal responses in overlapping regions of the inferior prefrontal cortex were sensitive to the relational encoding manipulation as well as the contrast between recollection versus familiarity based retrieval. Interestingly, however, there was no evidence of prefrontal signal differentiation for this latter contrast in the ASD group for whom signal changes in a left hippocampal region were also marginally attenuated. Together, these observations suggest that attenuated levels of episodic recollection in ASD are, at least in part, attributable to anomalies in relational encoding processes., (© 2015 The Authors Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Autism Research.)

Differences in the visual processing of familiar and unfamiliar faces have prompted considerable interest in face learning, the process by which unfamiliar faces become familiar. Previous work indicates that face learning is determined in part by exposure duration; unsurprisingly, viewing faces for longer affords superior performance on subsequent recognition tests. However, there has been further speculation that exemplar variation, experience of different exemplars of the same facial identity, contributes to face learning independently of viewing time. Several leading accounts of face learning, including the averaging and pictorial coding models, predict an exemplar variation advantage. Nevertheless, the exemplar variation hypothesis currently lacks empirical support. The present study therefore sought to test this prediction by comparing the effects of unique exemplar face learning--a condition rich in exemplar variation--and repeated exemplar face learning--a condition that equates viewing time, but constrains exemplar variation. Crucially, observers who received unique exemplar learning displayed better recognition of novel exemplars of the learned identities at test, than observers in the repeated exemplar condition. These results have important theoretical and substantive implications for models of face learning and for approaches to face training in applied contexts., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

It has recently been proposed that the face recognition deficits seen in neurodevelopmental disorders may reflect impaired short-term face memory (STFM). For example, introducing a brief delay between the presentation of target and test faces seems to disproportionately impair matching or recognition performance in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The present study sought to determine whether deficits of STFM contribute to impaired face recognition seen in Developmental Prosopagnosia. To determine whether developmental prosopagnosics exhibit impaired STFM, the present study used a six-alternative-forced-choice match-to-sample procedure. Memory demand was manipulated by employing a short or long delay between the presentation of the target face, and the six test faces. Crucially, the perceptual demands were identical in both conditions, thereby allowing the independent contribution of STFM to be assessed. Prosopagnosics showed clear evidence of a category-specific impairment for face-matching in both conditions; they were both slower and less accurate than matched controls. Crucially, however, the prosopagnosics showed no evidence of disproportionate face recognition impairment in the long-interval condition. While individuals with DP may have problems with the perceptual encoding of faces, it appears that their representations are stable over short durations. These results suggest that the face recognition difficulties seen in DP and autism may be qualitatively different, attributable to deficits of perceptual encoding and perceptual maintenance, respectively., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

It is well established that emotional responses to stimuli presented to one perceptive modality (e.g., visual) are modulated by the concurrent presentation of affective information to another modality (e.g., auditory)-an effect known as the cross-modal bias. However, the affective mechanisms mediating this effect are still not fully understood. It remains unclear what role different dimensions of stimulus valence and arousal play in mediating the effect, and to what extent cross-modal influences impact not only our perception and conscious affective experiences, but also our psychophysiological emotional response. We addressed these issues by measuring participants' subjective emotion ratings and their Galvanic Skin Responses (GSR) in a cross-modal affect perception paradigm employing videos of ballet dance movements and instrumental classical music as the stimuli. We chose these stimuli to explore the cross-modal bias in a context of stimuli (ballet dance movements) that most participants would have relatively little prior experience with. Results showed (i) that the cross-modal bias was more pronounced for sad than for happy movements, whereas it was equivalent when contrasting high vs. low arousal movements; and (ii) that movement valence did not modulate participants' GSR, while movement arousal did, such that GSR was potentiated in the case of low arousal movements with sad music and when high arousal movements were paired with happy music. Results are discussed in the context of the affective dimension of neuroentrainment and with regards to implications for the art community.

Diminished episodic memory and diminished use of semantic information to aid recall by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are both thought to result from diminished relational binding of elements of complex stimuli. To test this hypothesis, we asked high-functioning adults with ASD and typical comparison participants to study grids in which some cells contained drawings of objects in non-canonical colours. Participants were told at study which features (colour, item, location) would be tested in a later memory test. In a second experiment, participants studied similar grids and were told that they would be tested on object-location or object-colour combinations. Recognition of combinations was significantly diminished in ASD, which survived covarying performance on the Color Trails Test (D'Elia et al. Color trails test. Professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources, Lutz, 1996), a test of executive difficulties. The findings raise the possibility that medial temporal as well as frontal lobe processes are dysfunctional in ASD.

Considerable evidence suggests that the episodic memory system operates abnormally in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) whereas the functions of the semantic memory system are relatively preserved. Here we show that the same dissociation also applies to the domain of order memory. We asked adult participants to order the names of famous historical figures either according to their chronological order in history (probing semantic memory) or according to a random sequence shown once on a screen (probing episodic memory). As predicted, adults with ASD performed less well than age- and IQ-matched comparison individuals only on the episodic task. This observation is of considerable importance in the context of developmental theory because semantic and episodic order memory abilities can be dissociated in typically developing infants before they reach the age at which the behavioural markers associated with ASD are first apparent. This raises the possibility that early emerging memory abnormalities play a role in shaping the developmental trajectory of the disorder. We discuss the broader implications of this possibility and highlight the urgent need for greater scrutiny of memory competences in ASD early in development.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is clinically defined by abnormalities in reciprocal social and communicative behaviors and an inflexible adherence to routinised patterns of thought and behavior. Laboratory studies repeatedly demonstrate that autistic individuals experience difficulties in recognizing and understanding the emotional expressions of others and naturalistic observations show that they use such expressions infrequently and inappropriately to regulate social exchanges. Dominant theories attribute this facet of the ASD phenotype to abnormalities in a social brain network that mediates social-motivational and social-cognitive processes such as face processing, mental state understanding, and empathy. Such theories imply that only emotion related processes relevant to social cognition are compromised in ASD but accumulating evidence suggests that the disorder may be characterized by more widespread anomalies in the domain of emotions. In this review I summarize the relevant literature and argue that the social-emotional characteristics of ASD may be better understood in terms of a disruption in the domain-general interplay between emotion and cognition. More specifically I will suggest that ASD is the developmental consequence of early emerging anomalies in how emotional responses to the environment modulate a wide range of cognitive processes including those that are relevant to navigating the social world.

Purpose: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition in which visual perception to both static and moving stimuli is altered. The aim of this study was to investigate the early cortical responses of subjects with ASD to simple patterns and moving radial rings using visual evoked potentials (VEPs)., Methods: Male ASD participants (n = 9) and typically developing (TD) individuals (n = 7) were matched for full, performance and verbal IQ (p > 0.263). VEPs were recorded to the pattern reversing checks of 50' side length presented with Michelson contrasts of 98 and 10 % and to the onset of motion-either expansion or contraction of low-contrast concentric rings (33.3 % duty cycle at 10 % contrast)., Results: There were no significant differences between groups in the VEPs elicited by pattern reversal checkerboards of high (98 %) or low (10 %) contrast. The ASD group had a significantly larger N160 peak (1.85 x) amplitude to motion onset VEPs elicited by the expansion of radial rings (p = 0.001). No differences were evident in contraction VEP peak amplitudes nor in the latencies of the motion onset N160 peaks. There was no evidence of a response that could be associated with adaptation to the motion stimulus in the interstimulus interval following an expansion or contraction phase of the rings., Conclusion: These data support a difference in processing of motion onset stimuli in this adult high-functioning ASD group compared to the TD group.

Emotionally arousing events are typically better remembered and more resistant to forgetting than neutral events. Findings from word list paradigms suggest that this may not hold for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who also tend to be less accurate as eyewitnesses under some circumstances. To test whether attenuated effects of arousal on memory may be responsible for poorer eyewitness testimonies in ASD, we asked adults with and without the disorder to view either arousing or neutral versions of a narrated slide sequence (Experiment 1) or video clip (Experiment 2) before assessing their memory for the material. Both groups exhibited increases in psychophysiological arousal during the arousing compared with the neutral version of the narratives, and both groups also demonstrated a memory advantage for the arousing events. Contrary to predictions, these observations indicate that stimulus induced arousal modulates memory for naturalistic events relatively typically in ASD.

Three experiments examined verbal short-term memory in comparison and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participants. Experiment 1 involved forward and backward digit recall. Experiment 2 used a standard immediate serial recall task where, contrary to the digit-span task, items (words) were not repeated from list to list. Hence, this task called more heavily on item memory. Experiment 3 tested short-term order memory with an order recognition test: Each word list was repeated with or without the position of 2 adjacent items swapped. The ASD group showed poorer performance in all 3 experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that group differences were due to memory for the order of the items, not to memory for the items themselves. Confirming these findings, the results of Experiment 3 showed that the ASD group had more difficulty detecting a change in the temporal sequence of the items., ((c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.)

To test the effects of providing relational cues at encoding and/or retrieval on multi-trial, multi-list free recall in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 16 adults with ASD and 16 matched typical adults learned a first followed by a second categorised list of 24 words. Category labels were provided at encoding, retrieval, both or not at all. Both groups showed enhanced recall when labels were available during encoding or throughout the task. ASD individuals showed reduced recall of the second list and reduced clustering. Clustering and recall were correlated in both groups, which also showed similar levels of subjective organisation. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of frontal and medial temporal lobe contributions to memory in ASD.