Increased discrimination of “false memories” in autism spectrum disorder

Increased discrimination of “false memories” in autism spectrum disorder

^aDepartment of Neurology, Ohio State University Medical Center, 1654 Upham Drive, Columbus, OH 43210; ^cBaystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA 01199; ^dDepartment of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610; ^fDefence and Civil Institute for Environmental Medicine, Toronto, ON M3M 3B9, Canada; ^gDepartment of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033; ^hDepartment of Neurology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20889; ⁱDepartments of Child Psychiatry and Pediatric Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114; and ^kGeriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, and ^lNeurology Services, Department of Veterans Administration Medical Center, and Brain Rehabilitation Center, Gainesville, FL 32610

Communicated by Philip Teitelbaum, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (received for review April 18, 1999)

Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired ability to use context, which may manifest as alterations of relatedness within the semantic network. However, impairment in context use may be more difficult to detect in high-functioning adults with ASD. To test context use in this population, we examined the influence of context on memory by using the “false memory” test. In the false memory task, lists of words were presented to high-functioning subjects with ASD and matched controls. Each list consists of words highly related to an index word not on the list. Subjects are then given a recognition test. Positive responses to the index words represent false memories. We found that individuals with ASD are able to discriminate false memory items from true items significantly better than are control subjects. Memory in patients with ASD may be more accurate than in normal individuals under certain conditions. These results also suggest that semantic representations comprise a less distributed network in high-functioning adults with ASD. Furthermore, these results may be related to the unusually high memory capacities found in some individuals with ASD. Research directed at defining the range of tasks performed superiorly by high-functioning individuals with ASD will be important for optimal vocational rehabilitation.

Footnotes

↵ b To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: beversdorf-1{at}medctr.osu.edu.
↵ m Wagner, A. D., Stebbins, G. T., Carillo, M. C., Dirksen, C., Gabrieli, J. D. E. & Schacter, D. L., Fifth Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, April 5–7, 1998, San Francisco, p. 57.
↵ n Miller, M. B., Wolford, G. L., Heinrich, J. & Gazzaniga, M. S., Fifth Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, April 5–7, 1998, San Francisco, p. 56.
Abbreviations:

ASD,

autism spectrum disorder;

WAIS-R IQ,

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Intelligence Quotient;

ADI-R,

Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised;

CVLT,

California Verbal Learning Test