Deficits in Executive Functions among Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Chen, Szu-Fan
Abstract
Background: Although deficits in executive functions (EF) in youths with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been extensively studied, and yet, little is known about whether the symptom severity and chronological changes of ASD affect their performance in EF tasks. Research of the relationship between EF and symptoms of ASD will advance the knowledge of allied health professionals to understand this disorder more clearly in order to develop effective intervention program for individuals with ASD. Three primary aims of the current study are: (1) to determine whether youths with ASD have EF deficits, (2) to explore the moderating effects from age at assessments, and (3) to investigate the relationship between EF and symptoms of ASD.
Methods: We assessed 114 youth with ASD (male, 97.4%) and 114 age- and sex-matched typically developing youth (TD) with the digit span backward of the Weschler intelligence scales, and the Spatial Span (SSP), Spatial Working Memory (SWM), Stockings of Cambridge (SOC), and Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift (I/ED), of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) to evaluate their EFs. To understand the effects of age, we divided participants into two groups during age stratification: the ages 8-12 group and the ages > 13 group. The scores of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Inattention subtest of Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were used to investigate the correlation betweens EF and symptoms of ASD.
Results: Compared with TD youth, youth with ASD recalled fewer digits backwardly, had shorter spatial span length in the SSP, made more total and between errors with poorer strategy uses in the SWM, solved fewer problems with minimum moves and made more mean number of moves in the SOC. In the age stratification, both youth with ASD in the two age groups showed similar deficits of working memory, but only youth with ASD aged 8-12 performed poorer than TD youth aged 8-12 in planning and set-shifting tasks. There were significant correlations between EF and reciprocal social interaction and inattention in youth with ASD.
Conclusion: Youth with ASD are impaired in a wide range of EFs including working memory, planning and set-shifting (only shown in youth aged 8-12) and their EF performances were significantly correlated with symptom severity. Investigating whether executive dysfunctions can be neurocognitive endophenotypes of ASD through studying examining EFs in unsiblings of ASD will be the next step.
Subjects
Autism Spectrum Disorders
executive function
working memory
set-shifting
planning
Type
thesis
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