UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Do Cognitive Deficits Persist Into Adolescence in Autism

Cantio, C; White, S; Madsen, GF; Bilenberg, N; Jepsen, JRM; (2018) Do Cognitive Deficits Persist Into Adolescence in Autism. Autism Research , 11 (9) pp. 1229-1238. 10.1002/aur.1976.

[thumbnail of 2018CantioCogDevAdol.pdf] Text
2018CantioCogDevAdol.pdf - Published Version
Access restricted to UCL open access staff

Download (274kB)

Abstract

SEVERAL THEORIES HAVE ATTEMPTED TO CHARACTERISE AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASDS) AT THE COGNITIVE LEVEL, MOST NOTABLY: THEORY OF MIND (TOM), EXECUTIVE FUNCTION (EF), AND A LOCAL PROCESSING BIAS (LB). THE AIM OF THIS STUDY WAS TO INVESTIGATE HOW THESE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS DEVELOP OVER TIME: The three cognitive domains (ToM, EF, and LB) were examined in a group of high-functioning children (age: 8-12, mean 10.85; IQ: 78-139, mean 105.48) with ASD and a matched group of children with neurotypical development (NTD) (IQ: 75-145, mean: 109.47), and several tasks were used within each domain to ensure the validity of the cognitive measures. Approximately 3 years later (mean age: 14.34), all children and their families were invited to participate in the follow-up (ASD, N = 21; NTD, N = 30). While the understanding of other's minds does improve from childhood to adolescence, ToM impairment persists in adolescents with ASD relative to their peers. Likewise, a development in EF was observed in the ASD group, while no significant improvement was seen in the NTD group, leading the ASD group to catch up in this domain. We did not detect any group differences at any time point regarding local bias processing (LB). Individual patterns of development were seen, but remarkably, ToM deficits were present in every child with ASD in whom we could detect any cognitive impairment at baseline, and a similar pattern was found at follow-up. These findings indicate that ToM is a persistent cognitive deficit in ASD. LAY SUMMARY: This was the first study to investigate the development of three well-known cognitive functions into adolescence: While the understanding of other's minds improves from childhood to adolescence, adolescents with ASD are still impaired relative to their peers. The EFs, however, seem to improve to a neurotypical level in ASD as children enter adolescence, while local processing bias seems to differentiate the groups only in early childhood.

Type: Article
Title: Do Cognitive Deficits Persist Into Adolescence in Autism
Location: United States
DOI: 10.1002/aur.1976
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.1976
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Autism spectrum disorders, adolescent development, cognition, executive function, theory of mind
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10059917
Downloads since deposit
1Download
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item