Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Deficits in Free Recall Persist in Asperger’s Syndrome Despite Training in the Use of List-appropriate Learning Strategies

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Free recall in adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) was compared with that in matched controls in an experiment including semantically similar, phonologically similar and unrelated word lists. Without supportive instructions, adults with AS were significantly impaired in their recall of phonologically and semantically related lists, but not unrelated lists. Even when trained to make use at study of the relations among the words, the adults with AS recalled fewer words than the control group. Participants rehearsed the study lists out loud and the rehearsal data was analysed. Despite a very slight trend for adults with AS to engage in less elaborative rehearsal and more rote rehearsal, their rehearsal did not differ significantly from that of controls.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4 th ed., text revision) Washington, DC: APA.

  • Ashcraft, M. H., & Kellas, G. (1974). Organization in normal and retarded children: Temporal aspects of storage and retrieval. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 103, 502–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battig, W. F., & Montague, W. E. (1969). Category norms for verbal items in 56 categories: A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms. Journal of Experimental Psychology Monograph, 80, (Part 2).

  • Boucher, J., & Lewis, V. (1989). Memory impairments and communication in relatively able autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 99–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, J., & Warrington, E. (1976). Memory deficits in early infantile autism: Some similarities to the amnesic syndrome. British Journal of Psychology 67, 73–87.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bower, G. H. (1972). Mental imagery and associative learning. In L. W. Gregg (Ed.), Cognition in learning and memory, (pp. 51–88). USA: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, D. M., Gardiner, J. M., & Berthollier, N. (2004). Source memory in adolescents and adults with Asperger Syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 533–542.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, D. M., Gardiner, J. M., Grice, S., & Saavalainen, P. (2000). Memory illusions: False recall and recognition in adults with Asperger’s Syndrome. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 663–672.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, M. J., Scott, F. J., Fox, S., & Pye, J. (2004). Gestalt processing in autism: Failure to process perceptual relationships and the implications for contextual understanding. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45, 459–469.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fergusson, R. (Ed.). (1985). The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary. London: Penguin Books.

  • Frith, U. (1989). Autism. Explaining the enigma. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghaziuddin, M., & Mountain-Kimchi, K. (2004). Defining the intellectual profile of AS: Comparison with HFA. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 279–284.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillberg, C. L. (1992). The Emanuel Miller Memorial Lecture 1991: Autism and autistic-like conditions: Subclasses among disorders of empathy. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 813–842.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hampton, J. A., & Gardiner, J. M. (1983). Measures of internal category structure: A correlational analysis of normative data. British Journal of Psychology, 74, 491–516.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hermelin, B., & O’Connor, N. (1967). Remembering of words by psychotic and subnormal children. British Journal of Psychology, 58, 213–218.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, E. L., & Frith, U. (2003). Understanding autism: Insights from mind and brain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. London, B 358, 281–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, C., Russell, J., & Robbins, T. W. (1994). Evidence for executive dysfunction in autism. Neuropsychologia, 32, 477–492.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jarrold, C., Boucher, J., & Smith, P. K. (1996). Generativity in pretend play in autism. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14, 275–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marschark, M., & Hunt, R. R. (1989). A re-examination of the role of imagery in learning and memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 15, 710–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayes, S. D., & Calhoun, S. L. (2004). Influence of IQ and age in childhood autism: Lack of support for DSM-IV Asperger’s Disorder. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 16, 257–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayes, S. D., Calhoun, S.L., & Crites, D. L. (2001). Does DSM-IV Asperger’s disorder exist? Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2, 263–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minshew, N. J., & Goldstein, G. (2001). The pattern of intact and impaired memory functions in autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 1095–1101.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mottron, L., Morasse, K., & Bellville, S. (2001). A study of memory functioning in individuals with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 253–260.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ozonoff, S., Pennington, B. F., & Rogers, S. J. (1991). Executive function deficits in high-functioning autistic individuals: Relationship to theory of mind. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1081–1105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plaisted, K., Swettenham, J., & Rees, L. (1999). Children with autism show local precedence in a divided attention task and global precedence in a selective attention task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 733–742.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rimland, B., & Fein, D. (1988). Special talents of autistic savants. In L. K. Obler & D. Fein (Eds.), The exceptional brain: Neuropsychology of talent and special abilities. London: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rimland, B., & Hill, A. L. (1984). Idiot savants. In J. Wortis (Eds.), Mental retardation and developmental disabilities, 13. (pp. 155–169). New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rundus, D., & Atkinson, R. (1970). Rehearsal processes in free recall: A procedure for direct observation. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 99–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selfe, L. (1977). A case of extraordinary drawing ability in an autistic child. NY: Academic press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szatmari, P. (2003). The causes of autism spectrum disorders. British Medical Journal, 326, 173–174.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tager-Flusberg, H. (1991). Semantic processing in the free recall of autistic children: Further evidence for a cognitive deficit. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 417–430.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, M. A. (1999). Generating novel ideas: Fluency performance in high-functioning and learning disabled individuals with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 189–201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wing, L. (1981). Asperger’s syndrome: A clinical account. Psychological Medicine, 11, 115–129.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wing, L. (1997). The autistic spectrum. The Lancet, 350, 1761–1766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (1992). Tenth revision of the international classification of disease. Geneva: WHO

Download references

Acknowledgments

The work reported in this article forms part of a D. Phil thesis that is in preparation. This research of the first author is supported by Studentship Grant PTA-030-2002-01037 from the ESRC and the second and third authors research is funded by a Grant 062978/Z/00/Z from The Wellcome Trust. We are grateful for their support. We would like to thank Sebastian B. Gaigg, Psychology Department, City University, England for his support and contribution with regard to co-ordinating appointments with participants. We would also like to acknowledge and thank all those who kindly volunteered to take part in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, UK

    Brenda J. Smith & John M. Gardiner

  2. Psychology Department, City University, London, UK

    Dermot M. Bowler

Authors
  1. Brenda J. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John M. Gardiner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dermot M. Bowler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brenda J. Smith.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, B.J., Gardiner, J.M. & Bowler, D.M. Deficits in Free Recall Persist in Asperger’s Syndrome Despite Training in the Use of List-appropriate Learning Strategies. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 445–454 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0180-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0180-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation