title: Temporal context memory in high-functioning autism.
abstract: Episodic memory, i.e. memory for specific episodes situated in space and time, seems impaired in individuals with autism. According to weak central coherence theory, individuals with autism have general difficulty connecting contextual and item information which then impairs their capacity to memorize information in context. This study investigated temporal context memory for visual information in individuals with autism. Eighteen adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome (AS) and age- and IQ-matched typically developing participants were tested using a recency judgement task. The performance of the autistic group did not differ from that of the control group, nor did the performance between the AS and HFA groups. We conclude that autism in high-functioning individuals does not impair temporal context memory as assessed on this task. We suggest that individuals with autism are as efficient on this task as typically developing subjects because contextual memory performance here involves more automatic than organizational processing.
authors.affiliation: Service Psychothérapique pour Enfants et Adolescents, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France. agnes.gras@chru-strasbourg.fr
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gras-Vincendon
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mottron
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salamé
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bursztejn
authors.forename: Jean-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Danion
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008568:Memory; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D013997:Time Factors