Prospective Memory in Adolescents with Autism: A Preliminary Study of the Impact of Memory Load

ABSTRACT

We evaluated event-based prospective memory (EBPM) in adolescents with Autism, varying the load of the to-be-performed intentions. We included measures of inhibition, working memory and binding. Results showed that increasing the retrospective memory load reduced performance in controls. In Autism, adolescents were impaired in the low load condition with normal performance for the ongoing task, with the reverse pattern in the high load condition. EBPM may be impacted in Autism due to difficulty to process ongoing and EBPM tasks simultaneously possibly because of restricted inhibitory control.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Fondation de France (grant no. 2007005799). We are grateful to Elizabeth Wiles-Portier for reviewing the English style. We are also indebted to all the children and adolescents and their families who took part in this study, as well as to the teachers and head teachers who kindly accommodated us in their schools.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fondation de France [2007005799].