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An Examination of Iconic Memory in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Iconic memory is the ability to accurately recall a number of items after a very brief visual exposure. Previous research has examined these capabilities in typically developing (TD) children and individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID); however, there is limited research on these abilities in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Twenty-one TD and eighteen ASD children were presented with circular visual arrays of letters for 100 ms and were asked to recall as many letters as possible or a single letter that was cued for recall. Groups did not differ in the number of items recalled, the rate of information decay, or speed of information processing. These findings suggest that iconic memory is an intact skill for children with ASD, a result that has implications for subsequent information processing.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the families who participated in this project. We would also like to thank Jeanette Holden and Melissa Hudson from the Autism Spectrum Disorders-Canadian-American Research Consortium (ASD-CARC) for support in data collection for the present study.

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Correspondence to Carly A. McMorris.

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McMorris, C.A., Brown, S.M. & Bebko, J.M. An Examination of Iconic Memory in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 1956–1966 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1748-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1748-9

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