Abstract
Medial temporal lobe amnesic disorder is characterized by an impairment in explicit memory (e.g., remembering a shopping list) and intact implicit memory (e.g., a woman seems familiar although you cannot remember having met her before). This study examined whether children with high-functioning autism have this same dissociation between explicit and implicit memory abilities. Children with autism and normal development participated in three memory tasks: one implicit task (perceptual identification) and two explicit tasks (recognition and recall). Children with autism showed intact implicit and explicit memory abilities. However, they did not show the typical pattern of recalling more items from both the beginning and end of a list and instead only recalled items from the end of the list. These results do not support the theory that high-functioning autism is a type of medial temporal lobe amnesia. However, these findings suggest that persons with autism use different organizational strategies during encoding or retrieval of items from memory.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Atkinson, R. C., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1971). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. W. Spence & J. T. Spence (Eds.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 2, pp. 89-195). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Bachevalier, J. (1991). An animal model for childhood autism: Memory loss and socioemotional disturbances following neonatal damage to the limbic system in monkeys. In C. A. Tamminga & S. C. Schultz (Eds.), Advances in neuropsychiatry and psychopharmacology, Volume 1: Schizophrenia research (pp. 129-140). New York: Raven.
Bachevalier, J. (1994). Medial temporal lobe structures in autism: A review of clinical and experimental findings. Neuropsychologia, 32, 627-648.
Baddeley, A. D., & Warrington, E. K. (1970). Amnesia and the distinction between long-and short-term memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 176-189.
Barth, C., Fein, D., & Waterhouse, L. (1995). Delayed match-tosample performance in autistic children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 11, 53-69.
Bauman, M. (1996). Brief report: Neuroanatomic observations of the brain in pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 26, 199-203.
Bauman, M., & Kemper, T. (1985). Limbic and cerebellar abnormalities: Consistent findings in infantile autism. Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, 47, 369.
Bennetto, L., Pennington, B. F., & Rogers, S. J. (1996). Intact and impaired memory functions in autism. Child Development, 67, 1816-1835.
Boucher, J. (1981). Immediate free recall in early childhood autism: Another point of behavioral similarity with the amnesic syndrome. British Journal of Psychology, 72, 211-215.
Boucher, J., & Warrington, E. K. (1976). Memory deficits in early infantile autism: Some similarities to the amnesic syndrome. British Journal of Psychology, 67, 73-87.
Bowler, D. M., Matthews, N. J., & Gardiner, J. M. (1997). Asperger's syndrome and memory: Similarity to autism but not amnesia. Neuropsychologia, 35, 65-70.
Claparede, E. (1951). Recognition and “me-ness.” In D. Rapaport (Ed.), Organization and pathology of thought (pp. 58-75). New York: Columbia University Press. (Reprinted from Archives de Psychologies, 1911, 11, 79-90).
DeLong, G. R. (1992). Autism, amnesia, hippocampus, and learning. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Review, 16, 63-70.
Drummey, A. B., & Newcombe, N. (1995). Remembering versus knowing the past: Children's explicit and implicit memories for pictures. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 59, 549-565.
Farrant, A., Blades, M., & Boucher, J. (1998). Source monitoring by children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28, 43-50.
Fein, D., Dunn, M., Allen, D. A., Aram, D. M., Hall, N., Morris, R., and Wilson, B. C. (1996). Language and neuropsychological findings. In I. Rapin & L. Wing (Eds.), Preschool children with inadequate communication: Developmental language disorder, autism, low IQ. (Clinics in Developmental Medicine, No. 139) (pp. 123-154). London: Mac Keith.
Graf, P., & Masson, M. E. J. (1993). Implicit memory: New directions in cognition, development, and neuropsychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Graf, P., Squire, L. R., & Mandler, G. (1984). The information that amnesic patients do not forget. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 164-178.
Hayes, B. K., & Hennessy, R. (1996). The nature and development of nonverbal implicit memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 63, 22-43.
Hermelin, B., & O'Connor, N. (1970). Psychological experiments with autistic children. Oxford, England: Pergamon.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983). Remembering the data: Analyzing interactive processes in reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22, 485-508.
Jacoby, L. L., Toth, J. P., & Yonelinas, A. P. (1993). Separating conscious and unconscious influences of memory: Measuring recollection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 122, 139-154.
Kaufman, A. S., & Kaufman, N. L. (1990). Kaufman brief intelligence test (K-BIT). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Kesner, R. P., & Novack, J. (1982). Serial position curve in rats: Role of the dorsal hippocampus. Science, 218, 173-174.
Klinger, L. G., & Dawson, G. (1995). A fresh look at categorization abilities in persons with autism. In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning and cognition in autism (pp. 119-136). New York: Plenum Press.
Klinger, L. G., & Dawson, G. (in press). Prototype formation in autism. Development and Psychopathology.
Komatsu, S., Naito, M., & Fuke, T. (1996). Age-related and intelligence related differences in implicit memory: Effects of generation on a word-fragment completion task. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 62, 151-172.
Korsakoff, S. S. (1889). Etude medico-psychologique sur une formes des maladies de la memoire [Medical-psychological study of a form of diseases of memory]. Revue Philosophique, 28, 501-530.
Miller, J. N., & Ozonoff, S. (1997). Did Asperger's cases have Asperger disorder? A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 247-251.
Minshew, N. J., & Goldstein, G. (1993). Is autism an amnesic disorder? Evidence from the California Verbal Learning Test. Neuropsychology, 7, 209-216.
Minshew, N. J., Goldstein, G., Muenz, L. R., & Payton, J. B. (1992). Neuropsychological functioning in non-mentally retarded autistic individuals. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 14, 749-761.
Minshew, N. J., Goldstein, G., & Siegel, D. J. (1997). Neuropsychologic functioning in autism: Profile of a complex information processing disorder. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 3, 303-316.
Mitchell, D. B. (1993). Implicit and explicit memory for pictures: Multiple views across the lifespan. In P. Graf & M. E. J. Masson (Eds.), Implicit memory: New directions in cognition, development, and neuropsychology (pp. 171-190). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ozonoff, S., & McEvoy, R. E. (1994). A longitudinal study of executive function and theory of mind development in autism. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 415-432.
Ozonoff, S., Pennington, B. F., & Rogers, S. J. (1991). Executive function deficits in high-functioning autistic individuals: Relationship to theory of mind. Journal of Chid Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1081-1105.
Parkin, A. J., & Streete, S. (1988). Implicit and explicit memory in young children and adults. British Journal of Psychology, 79, 361-369.
Perrig, W. J., & Perrig, P. (1993). Implizietes Gedachtnis: unwillkurlich, entwicklungsresistent und altersunabhangig? Zeitschrift fur Entwicklungspsychologie und Padagogische Psychology, 25, 29-47.
Perrig, P., & Perrig, W. J. (1995). Implicit and explicit memory in mentally retarded, learning disabled, and normal children. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 54, 77-86.
Roediger, H. L. (1990). Implicit memory: Retention without remembering. American Psychologist, 45, 1043-1056.
Rumsey, J. M., & Hamburger, S. D. (1988). Neuropsychological findings in high-functioning men with infantile autism, residual state. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 10, 201-221.
Rundus, D. (1971). Analysis of rehearsal processes in free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 89, 63-77.
Russo, R., Nichelli, P., Gibertoni, M., & Cornia, C. (1995). Developmental trends in implicit and explicit memory: A picture completion study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 59, 566-578.
Schacter, D. L. (1987). Implicit memory: History and current status. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13, 501-518.
Shimamura, A. P. (1993). Neuropsychological analyses of implicit memory: History, methodology, and theoretical interpretation. In P. Graf & M. E. J. Masson (Eds.), Implicit memory: New directions in cognition, development, and neuropsychology (pp. 265-285). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Snodgrass, J. G. (1993). Sources of learning in picture fragment completion task. In P. Graf & M. Masson (Eds.), Implicit memory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Snodgrass, J. G. & Vanderwart, M. (1980). A standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6, 174-215.
Summers, J. A., & Craik, F. I. M. (1994). The effects of subjectperformed tasks on the memory performance of verbal autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 773-783.
Warrington, E. K., & Weiskrantz, L. (1968). New method of testing long-term retention with special reference to amnesic patients. Nature, 217, 972-974.
Warrington, E. K., & Weiskrantz, L. (1970). The amnesic syndrome: Consolidation or retrieval? Nature, 228, 628-630.
Wyatt, B. S., & Conners, F. A. (1998). Implicit and explicit memory in individuals with mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 102, 511-526.