Memory integration in the autobiographical narratives of individuals with autism

Episodic memory impairment and its influencing factors in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are considered to experience difficulties with episodic memory (EM), while studies on EM in ASD have shown inconsistent results. A meta-analysis of 65 episodic memory studies with a combined sample size of 1652 individuals with ASD and 1626 typically developing individuals was conducted to analyze factors that may affect EM in ASD. The results showed that ASD had a significant medium to large effect size decrease in EM ability. Age period, task type, and reporting method significantly reduced the observed heterogeneity while EM type did not reduce the observed heterogeneity. The results of the meta-regression revealed that it was verbal IQ rather than full-scale IQ that was significantly correlated with EM in individuals with ASD. These findings suggest that individuals with ASD have reduced EM abilities and the potential factors is still needed to be explored.

Are autistic traits associated with a social-emotional memory bias?

Autistic traits are associated with differential processing of emotional and social cues. By contrast little is known about the relationship of autistic traits to socio-emotional memory, though research suggests an integral relationship between episodic memory processes and psychosocial well-being. Using an experimental paradigm, we tested if autistic traits moderate the effects of negative emotion and social cues on episodic memory (i.e. memory for past events). Young adults (N = 706) with varied levels of self-reported autistic traits (24% in clinical range) encoded images stratified by emotion (negative, neutral) and social cues (social, non-social) alongside a neutral object. After 24 h, item memory for images and associative memory for objects was tested. For item memory, after controlling for anxiety, a small effect emerged whereby a memory-enhancing effect of social cues was reduced as autistic traits increased. For associative memory, memory for pairings between neutral, but not negative, images reduced as autistic traits increased. Results suggest autistic traits are associated with reduced ability to bind neutral items together in memory, potentially impeding nuanced appraisals of past experience. This bias toward more negative, less nuanced memories of past experience may represent a cognitive vulnerability to social and mental health challenges commonly associated with autistic traits and a potential intervention target.

Differential Diagnosis of ICD-11 Personality Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adolescents

The International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11) introduces fundamentally new diagnostic descriptions for personality disorder and autism spectrum disorder. Instead of the traditional categorical taxonomies, both personality disorder and autism spectrum disorder are described as being on a continuum. Accumulating research has pointed out that, in some cases, adolescents with autism spectrum disorder are at risk of being confused with having a personality disorder, which particularly applies to female adolescents. Case reports describe how adult autistic women struggled with social and identity roles as children and adolescents, using compensatory strategies such as social imitation and other types of camouflaging. Furthermore, some adolescents with autism display emotion dysregulation and self-injury. The ICD-11 recognizes that features of autism spectrum disorder may resemble features of personality disorder, but the two diagnoses have not yet been formally compared to one another. The present article therefore sought to outline and discuss the overlap and boundaries between the ICD-11 definitions of personality disorder and autism spectrum disorder and propose guiding principles that may assist practitioners in differential diagnosis with female adolescents. We specifically highlight how aspects of the self and interpersonal functioning along with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral manifestations may overlap across the two diagnoses. Restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behavior, interests, and activities are core features of autism spectrum disorder, which may be masked or less pronounced in female adolescents. Collecting a developmental history of the early presence or absence of autistic features is vital for a conclusive diagnosis, including features that are typically camouflaged in females. A number of future directions for research and clinical practice are proposed.

Mentalizing and narrative coherence in autistic adults: Cerebellar sequencing and prediction

BYLEMANS, T., et al. Mentalizing and narrative coherence in autistic adults: Cerebellar sequencing and prediction. NEUROSCI BIOBEHAV REV, 2022. - This review focuses on autistic adults and serves 4 purposes: (1) providing an overview of their difficulties regarding mentalizing (understanding others' mental states) and narrative coherence (structured storytelling), (2) highlighting the relations between both skills by examining behavioral observations and shared neural substrates, (3) providing an integrated perspective regarding novel diagnostic tools and support services, and (4) raising awareness of adult autism. We suggest that mentalizing and narrative coherence are related at the behavioral level and neural level. In addition to the traditional mentalizing network, the cerebellum probably serves as an important hub in shared cerebral networks implicated in mentalizing and narrative coherence. Future autism research and support services should tackle new questions within a framework of social cerebellar (dys)functioning.

Nature and Effects of Autobiographical Memory Issues in Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This comprehensive thematic review focuses on autobiographical memory (AM) in individuals with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with the overarching aim of informing and instructing stakeholders on this important memory structure that is often compromised in individuals with ASD. Accordingly, articles that best address the theme were selected from legitimate publishers with prime peer-reviewed journals. ASD is recognized as a neurodevelopmental disorder, often impacting on many aspects of language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Considerable research has documented the problems children and adults with ASD frequently exhibit in language and its offshoots, the development of executive function, and theory of mind or the ability to reflect on the thoughts and feelings of self and others. These studies resulted in numerous assessments and intervention strategies designed to target the noted issues, among them problems with AM. Specialists in a variety of medical, psychological, and educational fields are exploring the nature and development of AM across the lifespan and the effects of AM weaknesses on cognitive and social-emotional factors such as self-regulation, social interactions, and self-identity. Researchers are reporting on the nature of AM deficits in persons with ASD and how AM deficits interact with or may explain other difficulties exhibited by these persons, but to date, little of this research has been incorporated into assessment and intervention strategies for persons with ASD. The aims of this article are to: 1. Describe the nature of AM, 2. Expound on assessments of AM, 3. Explain the effects of deficits in AMs on the personal narratives, self-regulation, and self-identity of persons with ASD, and 4. Explore intervention strategies to facilitate AM and the abilities of persons with ASD to tell coherent personal narratives.

A Contemplative Biofeedback Intervention for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Feasibility of a Community-Based Treatment

As the number of diagnosed adults living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) continues to grow, a lack of resources and lack of available interventions exacerbate their low quality of life, including low levels of education and employment, and high levels of co-morbid anxiety and depression. Here we build upon existing research showing the effectiveness of contemplative interventions on individuals with ASD, to provide a low-cost biofeedback-enhanced training which can be implemented by non-professional staff, and may help autistic individuals grasp abstract contemplative techniques. We hypothesize that the intervention will decrease participants' anxiety and autism symptoms, and increase their self-awareness, self-determination, and empathy. Fourteen adults with ASD, residing in assisted living, were provided with 16 weekly half-hour contemplative-biofeedback sessions with non-professional trainers, in which they learned to reduce their arousal levels through combined biofeedback and contemplative techniques, and apply those to everyday life. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected pre- and post-intervention, to determine changes in participants' self-awareness, self-determination, anxiety, autism symptoms, and empathy. Participants were capable of successfully improving their physiological arousal levels on the biofeedback setup, indicating feasibility of the technique. Further, we found initial indications for reduction in autism symptoms and increased self-determination. Qualitative reports by participants and counselors revealed that participants applied the techniques in many real-life situations, and these had far-ranging effects on their emotional regulation, work and social motivation, and self-determination. The study provides proof-of-concept for a low-cost, community-based intervention which can ameliorate the lives of adults with ASD.

Linking the Puzzle Pieces of the Past: A Study of Relational Memory in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Our memories are made of detailed sensory information representing the puzzle pieces of our personal past. The type of memory integrating sensory features is referred to as relational memory. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether relational memory is affected in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) since altered relational memory may contribute to atypical episodic memory observed in ASD. We also examined the association between perceptual style and relational memory abilities. Children with ASD (n = 14) and typically developed (TD) children (n = 16, 9-15 years old) completed a memory task with three conditions: two single-feature conditions measuring memory for objects and locations, and one relational memory condition measuring memory for objects and their locations combined. The Children's embedded figures test was administered to measure perceptual style. The ASD group selected more incorrect stimuli (false alarms) than the TD group, resulting in a lower proportion of correctly recognized targets across all memory conditions. The ASD group did not display a more local perceptual style than the TD group. However, perceptual style was associated with improved memory abilities across conditions. Our findings indicate that the overall memory performance of children with ASD is less stable, leading them to more incorrect responses than TD children. This may be due to the executive demands of the memory tasks, rather than specific impairments in memory binding. Autism Res 2020, 13: 1959-1969. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC LAY SUMMARY: The present study shows that children with autism have a less stable memory than typically developed children, which is reflected in a higher amount of incorrect memory responses. Overall, our results indicate that children with autism display difficulties in differentiating previously studied from novel information when solving both single-feature memory tasks and a relational memory task (requiring memory of combination of features). These difficulties may have implications for how children with autism remember episodes from their personal past.

Heterozygous loss of epilepsy gene KCNQ2 alters social, repetitive and exploratory behaviors

KCNQ/K_v7 channels conduct voltage‐dependent outward potassium currents that potently decrease neuronal excitability. Heterozygous inherited mutations in their principle subunits K_v7.2/KCNQ2 and K_v7.3/KCNQ3 cause benign familial neonatal epilepsy whereas patients with de novo heterozygous K_v7.2 mutations are associated with early‐onset epileptic encephalopathy and neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by intellectual disability, developmental delay and autism. However, the role of K_v7.2‐containing K_v7 channels in behaviors especially autism‐associated behaviors has not been described. Because pathogenic K_v7.2 mutations in patients are typically heterozygous loss‐of‐function mutations, we investigated the contributions of K_v7.2 to exploratory, social, repetitive and compulsive‐like behaviors by behavioral phenotyping of both male and female KCNQ2^+/− mice that were heterozygous null for the KCNQ2 gene. Compared with their wild‐type littermates, male and female KCNQ2^+/− mice displayed increased locomotor activity in their home cage during the light phase but not the dark phase and showed no difference in motor coordination, suggesting hyperactivity during the inactive light phase. In the dark phase, KCNQ2^+/− group showed enhanced exploratory behaviors, and repetitive grooming but decreased sociability with sex differences in the degree of these behaviors. While male KCNQ2^+/− mice displayed enhanced compulsive‐like behavior and social dominance, female KCNQ2^+/− mice did not. In addition to elevated seizure susceptibility, our findings together indicate that heterozygous loss of K_v7.2 induces behavioral abnormalities including autism‐associated behaviors such as reduced sociability and enhanced repetitive behaviors. Therefore, our study is the first to provide a tangible link between loss‐of‐function K_v7.2 mutations and the behavioral comorbidities of K_v7.2‐associated epilepsy.

Exploring the neurocognitive basis of episodic recollection in autism

Increasing evidence indicates that the subjective experience of recollection is diminished in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to neurotypical individuals. The neurocognitive basis of this difference in how past events are re-experienced has been debated and various theoretical accounts have been proposed to date. Although each existing theory may capture particular features of memory in ASD, recent research questions whether any of these explanations are alone sufficient or indeed fully supported. This review first briefly considers the cognitive neuroscience of how episodic recollection operates in the neurotypical population, informing predictions about the encoding and retrieval mechanisms that might function atypically in ASD. We then review existing research on recollection in ASD, which has often not distinguished between different theoretical explanations. Recent evidence suggests a distinct difficulty engaging recollective retrieval processes, specifically the ability to consciously reconstruct and monitor a past experience, which is likely underpinned by altered functional interactions between neurocognitive systems rather than brain region-specific or process-specific dysfunction. This integrative approach serves to highlight how memory research in ASD may enhance our understanding of memory processes and networks in the typical brain. We make suggestions for future research that are important for further specifying the neurocognitive basis of episodic recollection in ASD and linking such difficulties to social developmental and educational outcomes.

Neural Correlates of Reflection on Present and Past Selves in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Previous studies indicate that autobiographical memory is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Successful recollection of information referring to one’s own person requires the intact ability to re-activate representation of the past self. In the current fMRI study we investigated process of conscious reflection on the present self, the past self, and a close-other in the ASD and typically developing groups. Significant inter-group differences were found in the Past-Self condition. In individuals with ASD, reflection on the past self was associated with additional engagement of the posterior cingulate and posterior temporal structures. We hypothesize that this enhanced activation of widely distributed neural network reflects substantial difficulties in processes of reflection on one’s own person in the past.

Hippocampal-Temporopolar Connectivity Contributes to Episodic Simulation During Social Cognition

People are better able to empathize with others when they are given information concerning the context driving that person's experiences. This suggests that people draw on prior memories when empathizing, but the mechanisms underlying this connection remain largely unexplored. The present study investigates how variations in episodic information shape the emotional response towards a movie character. Episodic information is either absent or provided by a written context preceding empathic film clips. It was shown that sad context information increases empathic concern for a movie character. This was tracked by neural activity in the temporal pole (TP) and anterior hippocampus (aHP). Dynamic causal modeling with Bayesian Model Selection has shown that context changes the effective connectivity from left aHP to the right TP. The same crossed-hemispheric coupling was found during rest, when people are left to their own thoughts. We conclude that (i) that the integration of episodic memory also supports the specific case of integrating context into empathic judgments, (ii) the right TP supports emotion processing by integrating episodic memory into empathic inferences, and (iii) lateral integration is a key process for episodic simulation during rest and during task. We propose that a disruption of the mechanism may underlie empathy deficits in clinical conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder.

Immediate Early Genes, Memory and Psychiatric Disorders: Focus on c-Fos, Egr1 and Arc

Many psychiatric disorders, despite their specific characteristics, share deficits in the cognitive domain including executive functions, emotional control and memory. However, memory deficits have been in many cases undervalued compared with other characteristics. The expression of Immediate Early Genes (IEGs) such as, c-fos, Egr1 and arc are selectively and promptly upregulated in learning and memory among neuronal subpopulations in regions associated with these processes. Changes in expression in these genes have been observed in recognition, working and fear related memories across the brain. Despite the enormous amount of data supporting changes in their expression during learning and memory and the importance of those cognitive processes in psychiatric conditions, there are very few studies analyzing the direct implication of the IEGs in mental illnesses. In this review, we discuss the role of some of the most relevant IEGs in relation with memory processes affected in psychiatric conditions.

Exploring the Relationship Between Autistic Traits and Body Image, Body Satisfaction, and Body Competence

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been linked to bodily disorders (anorexia nervosa, obesity), and individuals with ASD are known to experience unique bodily states (e.g., exaggerated interoceptive sensitivity). Though there is evidence to suggest body variables may significantly impact quality of life in those with ASD, research has yet to examine the potential relationship between ASD and body image variables, that is, the evaluation of one's body. The present study examined 80 healthy college students (40 male, 40 female) who completed an online set of questionnaires regarding body image and satisfaction, body competency, depression, anxiety, and autistic traits (Autism Spectrum Quotient, or AQ) (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001 ). Of primary interest was whether AQ scores, gender, and the interaction between AQ scores and gender could successfully predict participants' scores on body image, satisfaction, and competency scales. Autistic traits were only a significant predictor of scores on one measure of momentary body image and satisfaction (Body Image States Scale: Cash et al., 2002 ). However, our results did suggest the possibility of an interaction between gender and AQ scores in predicting reports of body image, satisfaction, and competency.

Reality Monitoring and Metamemory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions

Studies of reality monitoring (RM) often implicate medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in distinguishing internal and external information, a region linked to autism-related deficits in social and self-referential information processing, executive function, and memory. This study used two RM conditions (self-other; perceived-imagined) to investigate RM and metamemory in adults with autism. The autism group showed a deficit in RM, which did not differ across source conditions, and both groups exhibited a self-encoding benefit on recognition and source memory. Metamemory for perceived-imagined information, but not for self-other information, was significantly lower in the autism group. Therefore, reality monitoring and metamemory, sensitive to mPFC function, appear impaired in autism, highlighting a difficulty in remembering and monitoring internal and external details of past events.

Telling Tales: Personal Event Narratives and Life Stories

Purpose

Speech-language pathologists know much more about children's development of fictional narratives than they do about children's development of personal narratives and the role these personal narratives play in academic success, social–emotional development, and self-regulation. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide clinicians with strategies for assessing and developing children's and adolescents' personal narratives.

Method

This tutorial reviews the literature on (a) the development of autobiographical event narratives and life stories, (b) factors that contribute to development of these genres, (c) the importance of these genres for the development of sense of self-identity and self-regulation, (d) deficits in personal narrative genres, and (e) strategies for eliciting and assessing event narratives and life stories.

Implications

To promote development of personal event narratives and life stories, speech-language pathologists can help clients retrieve information about interesting events, provide experiences worthy of narrating, and draw upon published narratives to serve as model texts. Clinicians can also address four interrelated processes in intervention: reminiscing, reflecting, making coherent connections, and signaling the plot structure. Furthermore, they can activate metacognitive awareness of how evaluations of experiences, coherence, and plot structure are signaled in well-formed personal event narratives and life stories.

Cognitive control and episodic memory in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

INTRODUCTION

To further investigate manifestations of episodic memory impairments in adolescents, we examined the role of encoding on recognition of stimuli in conditions designed to emphasize their item-specific versus relational characteristics in a group of 12-18 year olds with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We also examined how strategic learning and memory processes, verbal abilities, attention, and age were associated with recognition in this group.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

Twenty two high functioning adolescents with ASD (mean age=15 years; SD=1.8; range=12.2-17.9), and 26 age, gender, and IQ-matched adolescents with typical development (TYP) (mean age=14.7 years; SD=1.9; range=12.3-17.8) completed the Relational and Item-Specific Encoding task (RiSE), the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version (CVLT-C), the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence, and the Connors' Parent Rating Scale-Revised. Univariate statistical analyses were performed.

RESULTS

The ASD group showed poorer performance on strategic memory assessed by the CVLT-C. Surprisingly, on the RiSE, ASD showed poorer discriminability for objects encoded in item-specific versus relational encoding conditions and were more impaired in familiarity (after relational encoding) than in recollection. ASD also did not show the hypothesized association between item and associative recognition and CVLT-C performance found in TYP. Instead, in the ASD group recognition was associated with increased age.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from the RiSE task demonstrated that adolescents with ASD do not always exhibit impaired memory for relational information as commonly believed. Instead, memory was worse when cognitive control demands were high, when encoding focused on specific item features, and when familiarity was used to retrieve relational information. Recognition also was better in older participants. This suggests that learning and memory deficits in adolescents with ASD, may not be due primarily to failed relational binding processes in the hippocampus but, rather to disrupted strategic memory and familiarity processes associated with the prefrontal and perirhinal cortices. These findings demonstrate the importance and utility of using well-validated cognitive neuroscience tasks and of considering the ages of participants when comparing the neural underpinnings of different memory processes in both typical and atypical populations.

Early Memories of Individuals on the Autism Spectrum Assessed Using Online Self-Reports

"When I was one and a half years old, I was on a ferry lying on red seats" - while several autobiographical accounts by people with autism reveal vivid memories of early childhood, the vast amount of experimental investigations found deficits in personal autobiographic memory in autism. To assess this contradiction empirically, we implemented an online questionnaire on early childhood events to compare people on the autism spectrum (AS) and non-autistic people with respect to their earliest autobiographical episodic memories and the earliest semantic know event as told by another person. Results indicate that people on the AS do not differ from non-autistic people in the age of their earliest know events but remember events from an earlier age in childhood and with more sensory details, contradicting the assumption of an overall deficit in personal episodic memory in autism. Furthermore, our results emphasize the supporting influence of language for memory formation and give evidence for an important role of sensory features in memories of people on the AS.