Working memory in autism spectrum disorders: does the type of stimulus matter?

ABSTRACT

Working memory performance in individuals with autism is a matter of debate in the literature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of stimuli in the working memory of children with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Sixteen children with ASD, clinically diagnosed as high functioning, were matched for gender and age and were compared with 16 typically developing controls. A face perception test and delayed matching task with partially masked faces are used for assessment. The results showed that the performance of both face perception and memorizing tasks is significantly lower in autism during mouth masking when compared to eye masking or without masking faces. We concluded that the performance of working memory in autism depends on the nature of stimuli to be remembered.

KEYWORDS:

• Working memory
• autism spectrum disorders
• face perception

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vahid Nejati

Vahid Nejati is an associate Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience.