Difference between revisions of "Working Memory in ASD"

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Working memory appears to be abnormal in those with ASD through studies which have used working memory tasks in ASD populations and the general population.<sup>3,4,5,6,7</sup> ODR studies involving high-functioning autistic participants suggest that the ASD groups have reduced accuracy in memory guided saccades. Deficits are present in both adults with ASD and adolescents with ASD, but there appears to be improvement in performance from childhood to adolescence.<sup>1</sup> One study found most of the circuitry involved in Working Memory intact in those with autism, including the insula, intraparietal sulcus, basal ganglia, thalamus, supramarginal gyrus, FEF, SEF, presupplementary motor area, ACC, precuneus, and cerebellum. The authors suggested that there may be a specific impairment involving the connectivity of prefrontal cortex with the posterior cortex. <sup>2</sup>  
 
Working memory appears to be abnormal in those with ASD through studies which have used working memory tasks in ASD populations and the general population.<sup>3,4,5,6,7</sup> ODR studies involving high-functioning autistic participants suggest that the ASD groups have reduced accuracy in memory guided saccades. Deficits are present in both adults with ASD and adolescents with ASD, but there appears to be improvement in performance from childhood to adolescence.<sup>1</sup> One study found most of the circuitry involved in Working Memory intact in those with autism, including the insula, intraparietal sulcus, basal ganglia, thalamus, supramarginal gyrus, FEF, SEF, presupplementary motor area, ACC, precuneus, and cerebellum. The authors suggested that there may be a specific impairment involving the connectivity of prefrontal cortex with the posterior cortex. <sup>2</sup>  
 
There have also been evidence that working memory is not significantly different in those with ASD. The discrepancies may indicate compensatory mechanisms employed by participants to improve performance.<sup>1</sup>
 
There have also been evidence that working memory is not significantly different in those with ASD. The discrepancies may indicate compensatory mechanisms employed by participants to improve performance.<sup>1</sup>
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====Neuroimaging====
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Those with ASD demonstrate abnormal activation even if performance on working memory tasks are not significantly different from control groups.
  
  

Revision as of 12:00, 27 September 2010

Working Memory

Working memory refers to an individual's ability to retain information in memory for a short period of time for a specific goal. It is thought of as a component of Executive_Functioning.There are many types of Working Memory (e.g. object, spatial, etc). One popular task for measuring spatial working memory is the Oculomotor Delayed Response task(ODR). The ODR task is a memroy-guided saccade task.1 More information on the Working Memory construct can be found here.

Working Memory and ASD

Working memory appears to be abnormal in those with ASD through studies which have used working memory tasks in ASD populations and the general population.3,4,5,6,7 ODR studies involving high-functioning autistic participants suggest that the ASD groups have reduced accuracy in memory guided saccades. Deficits are present in both adults with ASD and adolescents with ASD, but there appears to be improvement in performance from childhood to adolescence.1 One study found most of the circuitry involved in Working Memory intact in those with autism, including the insula, intraparietal sulcus, basal ganglia, thalamus, supramarginal gyrus, FEF, SEF, presupplementary motor area, ACC, precuneus, and cerebellum. The authors suggested that there may be a specific impairment involving the connectivity of prefrontal cortex with the posterior cortex. 2 There have also been evidence that working memory is not significantly different in those with ASD. The discrepancies may indicate compensatory mechanisms employed by participants to improve performance.1

Neuroimaging

Those with ASD demonstrate abnormal activation even if performance on working memory tasks are not significantly different from control groups.


Cognitive tasks which assess Working Memory

  1. Oculomotor Delayed Response task
  2. Self-ordered Search task

Citations

1. O'Hearn K et. al. Neurodevelopment and executive function in autism.Dev Psychopathol. 2008 Fall;20(4):1103-32. PMID 18838033

2. Koshino H et. al. Functional connectivity in an fMRI working memory task in high-functioning autism.Neuroimage. 2005 Feb 1;24(3):810-21. PMID 15652316

3. Goldberg, M. C et. al. Deficits in the initiation of eye movements in the absence of a visual target in adolescents with high functioning autism.Neuropsychologia. 2002;40(12):2039-49. PMID 12208001

4. Luna B, et. al. Neocortical system abnormalities in autism: an fMRI study of spatial working memory.Neurology. 2002 Sep 24;59(6):834-40. PMID 12297562

5. Luna B et. al. Maturation of executive function in autism. Biol Psychiatry. 2007 Feb 15;61(4):474-81. PMID 16650833

6. Minshew NJ et. al. Oculomotor evidence for neocortical systems but not cerebellar dysfunction in autism.Neurology. 1999 Mar 23;52(5):917-22. PMID 10102406

7. Takarae Y et. al. Pursuit eye movement deficits in autism.Brain. 2004 Dec;127(Pt 12):2584-94 PMID 15509622