Study title

Neuropsychology data from Lind, S., Williams, D.M., Bowler, D. and Peel, A. (2014). Episodic memory and episodic future thinking impairments in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder: An underlying difficulty with scene construction or self-projection?. Neuropsychology, 28(1), 55-65. doi: 10.1037/neu0000005 Navigation data from Lind, S. E., Williams, D. M.; Raber, J., Peel, A. and Bowler, D. M. (2013). Spatial navigation impairments among intellectually high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder: Exploring relations with theory of mind, episodic memory, and episodic future thinking. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(4), 1189-1199. doi: 10.1037/a0034819

This project will be carried out by Dr Sophie Lind and Professor Dermot Bowler from Durham University and City University London, respectively. The aim of the project is to establish whether or not individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a diminished capacity for: (1) prospection/episodic future thinking (imagining future events); (2) imagination and/or navigation and to establish whether putative impairments in these domains are related to degree of behavioural inflexibility (a core diagnostic feature of ASD). Two studies will be conducted, each of which will assess these three capacities using modified versions of already established behavioural paradigms. Standardised ASD diagnostic assessments will be used to quantify severity of ASD features. (1) Study 1 will employ a sample of children with ASD and comparison children, matched for sex, age, verbal IQ (VIQ), performance IQ (PIQ), and full scale IQ (FSIQ). (2) Study 2 will employ a sample of intellectually high-functioning adults with ASD and typical comparison adults, matched for sex, age, VIQ, PIQ, and FSIQ. Performances on the prospection, imagination, and navigation tasks will be compared across groups, and correlated with behavioural inflexibility scores. Inter-task correlations will also be established.