Memory Impairments in Children with Autism - Essay Example

Review on Memory Impairments in Children with Autism Psychology Essay 23 October Introduction Autism is delineated as a neurodevelopmental syndrome exemplified by impaired social interaction, spoken and non-spoken communication, and by restricted, repetitive behaviour (Schuh & Eigsti, 2012). All individuals with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are known to exhibit certain memory impairments (Boucher & Bowler, 2008). These memory impairments range from linguistically and intellectually able individuals with Asperger syndrome, high-functioning individuals in whom language is initially delayed, but subsequently normalizes, those with persistent, mild-to-moderate language impairment accompanied by intellectual disability (ID), to the substantial subgroup of individuals with ASD who have little or no useful language and severe or profound ID. There are little differences in this range and severity of memory impairments across this memory spectrum (Boucher, Mayes, & Bigham, 2012). Even though an autism-specific profile of dysfunctional memory to support memory impairments in autism is not yet established, several theories have been proposed to explain the heterogeneity of cognitive impairments observed in ASD. Most theories propose that higher-level cognitive functions that require organisation or strategy such as memory are affected by autism, while basic perceptual processes are either left intact or enhanced in some individuals with autism (Southwick, Bigler, Froehlich, DuBray, Alexander, Lange, & Lainhart, 2011). This review article, therefore, focuses on the effect of autism on three memory systems namely episodic, semantic and working memory in children. It also looks at memory impairments associated with Asperger’s syndrome (AS). Memory Systems Affected by Autism The three main memory systems affected by ASD are episodic, semantic and working memory. a) Episodic Memory This is a memory system that holds contextual information about events experienced personally (Boucher et al., 2012). In any memory framework, autism has been reported to disable the consolidation of higher-level or event-related information while sparing low-level perceptual and procedural information processing (Southwick et al., 2011). To support these theories, a number of studies have been conducted. In one of the studies aimed at elucidating whether ASD is typified by diminished episodic memory as well as impairing the episodic future thinking. Lind, Williams, Bowler and Peel (2014) carried out an experiment on mentally stable adults with ASD and IQ-matched neurotypical adults. Upon testing their ability to describe (i) imagined atemporal, non-self-relevant fictitious scenes, (ii) imagined plausible self-relevant future episodes, and (iii) recalled personally experienced past episodes, it was shown that the functioning of participants with ASD worsened (Lind et al., 2014). The episodic and episodic future memory deficits in ASD could be attributed to the inability to create a basic scene (due to hippocampal malfunction) since such individuals have a cognitive dispensation style that is distinguished by feeble central reasoning. They focus on individual elements rather than process environmental stimuli as coherent wholes (Lind et al., 2014). In a closely related study, Wojcik et al. (2013) explored the possibility of dissociation between episodic and semantic “Feeling-of-Knowing” (FOK) in children with ASD. The results of this study showed that children with ASD could not forecast their performance precisely using the FOK paradigm, whereas normal children could predict their memory performance by making accurate FOK judgments. In this study, the authors suggest that inaccurate FOK judgments in children with ASD could be attributed to the difficulty in binding the contextual information to the target. Impaired episodic memory particularly diminished relational encoding that leads to diminished recollection could be due to abnormal functioning of the hippocampus, which is a critical tool in recollection. Therefore, individuals with ASD have an element of abnormality in their hippocampus (Wojcik et al., 2013). A separate study by Maister, Simons and Plaisted-Grant (2013) revealed that the observed pattern of failure to remember the precise episodic situation could be attributed to the decline in automatic, associative recovery of occurrences from the memory. Therefore, such people tended to depend on the effortful restricted recollection process. b) Working Memory Working memory is memory system dedicated to the short-term maintenance and manipulation of information in thinking and reasoning. In a working memory, a slave system maintains information in an activated online state for the purposes of further cognitive processing while the set of executive functions controls additional cognitive processing (Baddeley, 2002). Spatial working memory allows individuals to remember and update the spatial locations of objects and human beings during any kind of motion, movement and occurrence of a momentary obstruction (Jiang Christian & Bryce, 2014). A study conducted by Jiang et al. (2014) to determine whether people with ASD are impaired in spatial working memory revealed that school-age children with high functioning autism had a lower capacity to retain information in spatial working memory compared with their IQ-matched normal counterparts. This deficit is attributed to weak central coherence and enhanced local processing as suggested by other studies. In another study that compared behavioural changes in the memory of high-functioning autism (HFA) and moderately low-functioning autism (M-LFA), Boucher et al. (2012) showed that performance on working memory tasks involving central executive control were high in moderately impaired low-functioning autism (M-LFA) than in high-functioning autism (HFA). The more extensive and severe declarative memory impairments in lower functioning relative to higher functioning individuals with ASD was assumed to be due to differences in IQ. Williams et al. (2006) conducted a study that evaluated memory in children with autism to determine if the functioning pattern was similar to that observed at the initial development phases. Their study revealed impaired performance on spatial working memory of children with ASD in comparison to the control group. In assessing spatial navigation ability among intellectually high-functioning adults with ASD, Lind, Williams, Raber, Peel, and Bowler (2013) showed that ASD patients took longer, inefficient paths when navigating the hidden condition. c) Semantic Memory Semantic memory refers to a memory system that holds impersonal factual information including meanings of words (Boucher et al., 2012). Autism is thought to have minimal effects on higher-level memory for context-independent facts, which compensates for the lack of integrative episodic memory among high-functioning individuals (Southwick et al., 2011). In a study that distinguishes between episodic and semantic memory in ASD Wojcik et al. (2013) found out that children with autism did not suffer from a generalized form of metamemory inadequacy that is present in all forms of memory. However, their performance of semantic materials could be predicted accurately. Another study by Boucher et al. (2012) indicated that whereas autism had subtle impairment in episodic memory, particularly on free-recall tasks, intact performance on semantic memory tasks were recorded. Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism Asperger’s syndrome is a neurobiological illness that influences behaviour, sensory systems, as well as visual-auditory processing (Williams, 1995). This condition is more common in boys than girls. Several memory impairments are associated with AS. Although children with AS commence speech like normal children, they encounter problems in the correct usage of pronouns leading to abnormal content of speech, which tends to be obscure (Wing, 1981). The use of gestures in such children is often limited, and their comprehension of body language is poor, thus causing misinterpretation of non-verbal signs. The most obvious characteristic of children with Asperger’s syndrome is the destruction of social interaction, which arises from the inability to comprehend the rules regulating social behaviour (Wing, 1981). The social behaviour of people with Asperger’s syndrome is considered naïve and peculiar. Most children with AS have a tendency to resist change and repeat activities over a lengthy period. These children often get emotionally involved with certain items and become sad in unfamiliar localities (Wing, 1981). In terms of motor coordination, people with AS have odd postures and gait, and exhibit clumsy and ill-coordinated gross motor movements (Wing, 1981). At times, their ability to write or draw is affected due to stereotyped movements of their limbs. Specific learning problems affecting arithmetic skills as well as reading have been reported in these people. A combination of social and communication impairments often give people with AS an expression of marked eccentricity making them over-sensitive to criticism (Wing, 1981). Asperger’s syndrome and autism are similar in many ways. Students with AS and autism are usually verbose and have an average to above-average IQs (Wing, 1981). Impaired recollection was reported in AS autism patients (Wojcik et al., 2013). Asperger’s syndrome and autism are known to influence speech, social contact and creative activities. Students with these conditions react well in regular, organized routines (Wing, 1981). Asperger’s syndrome is, therefore, considered a disorder at the higher end of the autistic continuum (Williams, 1995). Conclusion Various studies conducted on the memory impairments in children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome reveal that autism impairs episodic memory due to trouble making up a basic scene since such individuals have a cognitive processing style that is distinguished by poor central logic. Children with ASD had low capacity in retaining information in spatial working memory due to weak central coherence and enhanced local processing. On the other hand, autism was found either not to affect or to affect semantic memory minimally. Children with autism do not, therefore, suffer from a generalized form of metamemory deficit common to all forms of memory, but their performance of semantic materials can accurately be predicted. Finally, AS and autism are alike since both conditions are known to influence similar aspects of development. References Boucher, J., & Bowler, D. M. (2008). Memory in autism. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Boucher, J., Mayes, A., & Bigham, S. (2012). Memory in autistic spectrum disorder. Psychological Bulletin, 138 (3), 458-496. Jiang Y. V., Christian G. C., & Bryce E. P. (2014). Spatial working memory in children with high-functioning autism: Intact configural processing but impaired capacity. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123 (1), 248-257. Lind, S. E., Williams, D. M., Bowler, D. M. & Peel, A. (2014). Episodic memory and episodic future thinking impairments in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: An underlying difficulty with scene construction or self-projection? Neuropsychology , 28 (1), 55-67. Lind, S. E., Williams, D. M., Raber, J., Peel, A & Bowler, D. M. (2013). Spatial navigation impairments among intellectually high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder: Exploring relations with theory of mind, episodic memory, and episodic future thinking. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122 (4), 1189-1199. Maister, L., Simons, J. S. & Plaisted-Grant, K. (2013). 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Metamemory in children with autism: Exploring “feeling-of-knowing” in episodic and semantic memory. Neuropsychology, 27(1), 19–27. Read More